MARTIN COUNTY ESTATE PLANNING COUNCIL

Alfred J. Stashis, Jr. is a shareholder of Dunwody White & Landon, P.A. and is board certified by the Florida Bar in Wills, Trusts and Estates. A Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC), he serves clients in the firm’s Naples, Palm Beach and Miami offices.

He focuses his practice in the areas of estate planning, estate and trust administration; federal income, estate, gift and generation skipping transfer (GST) taxation; planning for Florida domicile; planning for charitable contributions and foundations; and planning for distributions from IRAs and other qualified retirement plans.

As a Florida Supreme Court Certified Circuit Civil Mediator and a Florida Supreme Court Qualified Arbitrator, Mr. Stashis also assists families, fiduciaries, beneficiaries and their counsel in resolving trusts-and-estates-related disputes.

Mr. Stashis earned his J.D. from the Notre Dame Law School and his LL.M. in Estate Planning from the University of Miami. He was awarded an M.B.A., magna cum laude, and a B.S., cum laude, from the University of Notre Dame, and an M.A.T. from the University of Portland.

Mr. Stashis is a member of the Florida Bar’s Taxation and Real Property, Probate and Trust Law (RPPTL) Sections (2005–present).  He serves on the RPPTL Section’s Executive Council and numerous RPPTL committees, including the Probate Law & Procedure Committee; the IRA, Insurance & Employee Benefits Committee (Chair 2018–2022; Vice Chair 2017–2018); the Estate and Trust Tax Planning Committee (Vice Chair 2022-); the Asset Protection Committee; the Charitable Planning and Exempt Organizations Committee; and the Wills, Trusts & Estates Certification Review Course Committee. Previously he served as a member of the Florida Bar's Probate Rules Committee. He is also a member of the American Bar Association, and its Real Property, Trust and Estate Law (RPTE) and Taxation Sections.  Locally, he is an active member of the Estate Planning Council of Naples, and the Trusts and Estates Section of the Collier County Bar Association (CCBA).  He is a Past Chair of the CCBA Trusts and Estates Section (2009-2010).

Mr. Stashis holds an AV-Preeminent Peer Review Rating from Martindale-Hubbell and has been recognized by his peers in Best Lawyers, Florida Super Lawyers, Florida Trend, and Naples Illustrated. He is a graduate of the Florida Fellows Institute of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC).

Mr. Stashis speaks frequently to other professionals on estate planning topics.  His recent speaking engagements include: "Wills, Trusts & Estates Certification Review: Planning with IRAs" (April 2022), “Things I Wish I Knew About the SECURE Act” (August 2021, September 2021), “ATO Conference:  Getting Secure with SECURE” (August 2021), “IRA Lightning Round” (September 2021), “ACTEC Podcast - Exempt Status of Distributions from Retirement Accounts” (July 2021), “The Effect of an Improperly Executed Revocable Trust” (July 2021), "Wills, Trusts & Estates Certification Review: Planning with IRAs" (March 2021), “IRA Planning in 2020:  CARES Act, SECURE Act, & Qualified Charitable Distributions” (July, August, September 2020), “Grantor Trust Income Tax Reimbursements:  Cases, Statutes, Provisions & IRS Authority” (September 2020), “Wills, Trusts & Estates Certification Review:  Planning with IRAs” (July 2020), “How SECURE Is Your IRA Plan?” (April 2020), “Almost All the Rules Just Changed.  Now’s the Time to Review Your Retirement Plans!” (January 2020), “Navigating the IRA Charitable Rollover” (September, October 2019, September 2020), “2019 Recent Developments in Planning for IRAs, Insurance and Employee Benefits” (June, July, August 2019), “2018 Recent Developments in Planning for IRAs, Insurance and Employee Benefits” (October 2018), “Resolving Defective or Deficient Beneficiary Designations” (April 2018, December 2018), “Tax Planning For Clients With Multi State Contacts” (May 2016), “Protecting ‘To Be Inherited’ IRAs” (panelist, October 2014), “After Clark v. Rameker: the Use of Trusts in IRA Planning” (panelist, July 2014), “Tax Aspects of Charitable Giving” (April 2014), “Selected Issues in IRA Planning” (September 2013), “A Review of Florida Law Concerning Tenants by the Entirety Ownership” (March 2012), “IRS Form 8939:  Allocation of Increase in Basis for Property Acquired from a Decedent” (October 2011), “Recent Developments in Homestead Law” (May 2011), “Creditor Issues in Probate” (June 2010), “Final Treasury Regulations under Section 2053” (January 2010), “Use of Grantor Trusts in Estate Planning” (September 2009), “Valuation Issues in a Declining Market” (April 2009), and “Intra Family Gifts, Loans and Guaranties” (January 2009).

Mr. Stashis has authored or co-authored numerous articles and book chapters for professional audiences, including most recently “Roth IRA Conversions After the SECURE Act” (Florida Bar ActionLine 2020), “Overcoming Retirement Plan In-SECURE-ity” (Florida Bar Journal 2020), “Retirement Plan Relief Under the CARES Act” (Florida Bar ActionLine 2020), “How SECURE Is Your IRA Planning?” (Florida Bar ActionLine 2020), “Advising Clients on Qualified Charitable Distributions from Individual Retirement Accounts” (Florida Bar ActionLine 2019), “The Importance of Beneficiary Designations” (Collier County Bar Association Adverse Witness 2019), “Beneficiary Designations in Divorce:  Lessons from Sveen v. Melin” (Florida Bar Commentator Fall 2018), “Tax Considerations for Marital Agreements” (Florida Bar Commentator Fall 2018), and “Drafting for Flexibility While Protecting Assets and Minimizing Taxes,” a chapter in the volume Best Practices for Structuring Trusts and Estates (Aspatore/Thomson Reuters, 2015 ed.).

He has also authored or co-authored numerous short articles for the estate planning supplement to the Naples Daily News on topics ranging from Planning With Charitable Remainder Trusts (2022), the SECURE Act (2020), There’s More to Your Estate Plan Than Taxes (2017), Trust Planning to Protect Inherited IRAs (2015), Planning with Portability vs. Credit Shelter Trusts (2014), The Importance of Beneficiary Designations (2013), Trust Privacy and Designated Representatives (2012), Charitable Remainder Unitrusts (2010), Sales to Intentionally Defective Grantor Trusts (2009), Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts (2008), and Section 529 Plans (2007).

Mr. Stashis is a Past Director, Past President and Past Treasurer of the Notre Dame Club of Naples.