GSBT - Steve Tackett's practice covers all aspects of an active estate planning, probate, mediation, and tax law practice.

Steve Tackett's practice covers all aspects of an active estate planning, probate, mediation, and tax law practice. Mr. Tackett's extensive estate planning practice involves the design and implementation of traditional and non-traditional estate plans for both U.S. and non-U.S. clients of the firm, including the use of revocable or irrevocable trusts, testamentary and lifetime gift planning, marital property agreements, life insurance and life insurance trusts, non-profit corporations and charitable trusts and private foundations, as well as coordination and disposition nonprobate assets such as contractual benefits held in qualified plans or individual retirement accounts (IRAs), and business succession planning involving the use of corporations, general or limited partnerships and limited liability companies.

Mr. Tackett's probate practice includes the probate of wills and the determination of heirship of decedents dying without wills. Mr. Tackett is highly experienced in the judicial construction, reformation, modification, and termination of trusts as well as in the representation of executors, trustees and beneficiaries in the administration, settlement, and distribution of estates or trusts. Mr. Tackett serves as a Qualified Impartial Third Party or Mediator in the private or court-referred mediation or arbitration of disputes involving estates, probates, trusts, marital property disputes, charitable organizations, and estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer tax issues. Mr. Tackett's tax practice includes the representation of clients with tax controversies pending before the Internal Revenue Service and state tax agencies. As both an attorney in private practice and as a former estate tax attorney with the Internal Revenue Service, Mr. Tackett has substantial experience in the preparation, examination, and appeal of federal estate and gift tax returns, state death tax returns, and state and federal generation-skipping transfer tax returns.

Education
University of Texas School of Law (J.D., 1971)
- Director, Texas Legal Research Board
University of Texas at Austin (B.A., Government, 1968)

Professional Affiliations and Honors
Board Certified, Estate Planning and Probate Law (Texas Board of Legal Specialization)
American Bar Association
- Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section
- Dispute Resolution Section
- Business Law Section
- Taxation Section
State Bar of Texas
- Real Estate, Probate, and Trust Law Section
- Estate Taxation Editor of Section Newsletter, 1992 - 1994
- Alternative Dispute Resolution Section
- Business Law Section
- Taxation Section
- Director, Advanced Estate Planning Strategies Course, 2002
- Planning Committee, Advanced Estate Strategies Course, 2001 - 2003
- Director, Advanced Estate Planning and Probate Course, 1995
- Planning Committee, Advanced Estate Planning and Probate Course, 1984 - 1986,
1990, 1993, 1995 - 1996, 2000 - 2002
Austin Bar Association
- Estate Planning and Probate Law Section
- Past Chair
- Business, Corporation & Taxation Section
- Board of Directors, 1998 - 1999
- Course Director, Wills and Probate Institute, 1998
South Texas College of Law, Wills and Probate Institute
- Course Director, 1997
- Planning Committee, 1993 - 1994, 1997 - 2000
Admitted United States Tax Court, 1985
American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC), Fellow
Texas Academy of Probate and Trust Lawyers, Fellow
Texas Bar Foundation, Life Fellow
College of the State Bar of Texas
Travis County Bar Foundation, Founding Fellow
Past President and Member, Estate Planning Council of Central Texas
National Committee on Planned Giving, Central Texas Chapter, Director
Court Qualified Impartial Third Party (Mediator)
Listed in America’s Registry of Outstanding Professionals, 2002 - 2003
Listed in The Best Lawyers in America
Texas Super Lawyer (2003 through 2007),
Texas Monthly and Law & Politics magazines

Professional Presentations (Selected)
"ADR Provisions in Estate Planning Documents," 15th Annual Advanced Drafting Estate Planning and Probate Course 2004, State Bar of Texas (League City, Texas; November 2004)

“Anticipating Change,” The Advanced Estate Planning Strategies Course 2003, State Bar of Texas (Las Vegas, Nevada; April 2003)

“Audit Roulette: Round and Round We Go,” The 25^th Annual Advanced Estate Planning and Probate Course, State Bar of Texas (Houston, Texas; June 2001)

“Generation-Skipping Tax for Dummies,” The 14th Annual Probate and Estate Planning Seminar, Travis County Bar Association (Austin, Texas; March 2000)

“Web Searches for Dummies—Web Sites for Estate Planners,” The 13th Annual Wills and Probate Institute, South Texas College of Law (Houston, Texas; September 1999)

“Internet Resources and Website Information for Estate Planners,” The 23rd Annual Advanced Estate Planning and Probate Course, State Bar of Texas (June 1999)

“Trusts,” Strategies for Building a Successful Estate Planning Practice Conference, State Bar of Texas (December 1998)

“Advanced Estate Planning Techniques,” The 12th Annual Wills and Probate Institute, South Texas College of Law (Houston, Texas; September 1998)

“Estate Planning for Non-Traditional Families,” The 21st Annual Advanced Estate Planning and Probate Course, State Bar of Texas (June 1997)

“Hot Button Audit Issues in Estate and Gift Tax,” Advanced Estate and Gift Tax Planning Conference, Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants, Austin Chapter (December 1996)

“Estate Planning For Non-Traditional Families,” The 10th Annual Wills and Probate Institute, South Texas College of Law (Houston, Texas; September 1996)

“Fiduciary Compensation and Investments,” The 8th Annual Probate and Estate Planning Seminar, Travis County Bar Association (Austin, Texas; March 1994)

“Living Trusts,” The 7th Annual Wills and Probate Institute, South Texas College of Law (Houston, Texas; September 1993)

“Fiduciary Compensation,” The 17th Annual Advanced Estate Planning and Probate Course, State Bar of Texas (June 1993)

“How to Survive an Estate Tax Audit,” The 5th Annual Wills and Probate Institute, South Texas College of Law (Houston, Texas; September 1991)

“Preparing the Federal Estate and Gift Tax Returns Against Possible IRS Audit,” The 30th Annual Institute on Wills and Probate, Southwestern Legal Foundation (May 1991)

“Anticipating and Defending Fiduciary Litigation,” The 14th Annual Advanced Estate Planning and Probate Course, State Bar of Texas (June 1990)

“Prime Estate and Gift Tax Issues in IRS Audits and Litigation,” Advanced Estate and Gift Tax Planning Conference, Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants, Austin Chapter (December 1989)

“Audit Federal Estate Tax Returns,” The 28th Annual Tax Seminar, Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants, Corpus Christi Chapter (October 1985)

“Multi-Party Accounts Under Chapter XI of the Texas Probate Code,” The 9th Annual Advanced Estate Planning and Probate Course, State Bar of Texas (June 1985)

“Handling Estate and Gift Tax Audits,” The 7th Annual Advanced Estate Planning and Probate Course, State Bar of Texas (March 1983)