Whitman Breed Abbott & Morgan LLC

Full-Service Law Firm Based in Greenwich, CT

Thomason,
Michael A. S.

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Michael is an associate in the Firm’s Litigation Department.  He represents clients in all aspects of litigation matters pending in state and federal court.  Prior to joining Whitman Breed, Michael was a judicial law clerk for United States Magistrate Judge Thomas O. Farrish.  Before his clerkship, Michael was an associate attorney at a boutique litigation firm in Greenwich.

Professional & Community Affiliation

  • Fairfield County Bar Association
  • Greenwich Bar Association

Tashjian,
Luke T.

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Luke is a partner in the Firm’s Trusts & Estates, Business Law, and Tax Departments. Luke’s estate planning and administration practice includes probating estates and designing estate plans.  In connection with his estate planning practice he prepares: wills, revocable trusts, domestic asset protection trusts, and irrevocable trusts; including spousal limited access trusts (SLATs), irrevocable life insurance trusts (ILITs), grantor trusts, and complex trusts.  Luke also advises clients on the transfer of assets to trusts including life insurance policies, private equity fund interests, and business interests. The types of tax controversy and collection matters that Luke represents clients in include domicile and residency audits, income tax audits, sales tax audits, requests for innocent spouse relief, and offers in compromise.  Luke also represents clients in forming tax efficient business vehicles, the admission of new owners and equity compensation, and the purchase, sale, and merger of businesses.

Luke represents clients before various courts, including the Connecticut Probate Courts and the Connecticut Superior Court in probate matters such as conservatorship proceedings, will contests, and probate disputes.  He also represents clients before the U.S. Tax Court and the U.S.  District Court in tax matters.

Professional & Community Affiliation

  • Fellow, The American College of Trust & Estate Counsel
  • Member of the Executive Committee of the Connecticut Bar Association’s Tax Section and Past Chair
  • Past Chair of the Fairfield County Bar Association’s Tax Committee
  • Member of Connecticut Department of Revenue Services External Advisory Committee
  • Member, New Canaan Exchange Club
  • Member, New Canaan Zoning Board of Appeals

Honors & Recognition

Publications & Presentations

  • Speaker, “Connecticut Tax Update,” New York Society of CPAs, November 30, 2022
  • Speaker, “Representing Clients in State and Federal Tax Collection Matters,” Federal Tax Institute of New England, April 29, 2022
  • Speaker, “Tax Provisions in the CARES Act,” Connecticut Legal Conference, September 14, 2020
  • Speaker, “The Probate Process from Start to Finish,” National Business Institute, May 5, 2020
  • Speaker, “Business Succession Planning,” June 10, 2019
  • Moderator, “Connecticut Tax Update with Commissioner Scott Jackson,” Fairfield County Bar Association and Connecticut Society of CPA’s, October 24, 2018.
  • Moderator, “Tax and Ethics Panel,” Federal Tax Institute of New England, October 18, 2018.
  • Speaker, “Civil Tax Non-Compliance for Decedent’s Estates,” Probate Section of the Connecticut Bar Association, October 1, 2018.
  • Speaker, “Estate Inventories and Satisfying Creditor Claims,” National Business Institute, September 25, 2018.
  • Speaker, “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and State Responses to the Act,” Westchester County Chapter of the New York Society of Independent Accountants, June 14, 2018.
  • Speaker, “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017,” Connecticut Bar Association’s Annual Conference, June 11, 2018.
  • Speaker, “Income Taxation of Trusts and Structuring Marital Trusts,” National Business Institute, June 7, 2018.
  • Speaker, “Marshaling Assets and Handling Claims Against Estates,” National Business Institute, May 17, 2018.
  • Moderator, “Tax Ethics Panel,” Tax Section of the Connecticut Bar Association, May 9, 2018.
  • Speaker, “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017,” Fairfield County and Westchester County Chapter of the International Fiscal Association, April 26, 2018.
  • Speaker, “Income Taxation of Trusts,” Halfmoon Education, Inc., December 7, 2017.
  • Moderator, “Ethics Issues for Tax and Estate Planning Attorneys,” Federal Tax Institute of New England, November 10, 2017.
  • Speaker, “Business Succesion Planning,” National Business Institute, June 26, 2017.
  • Moderator, “New Partnership Audit Rules,” Connecticut Bar Association, June 12, 2017.
  • Speaker, “Creditor Claims Against Estates,” National Business Institute, May 15, 2017.
  • Speaker, “Tax Deductions for Donations of Conservation Easements & Donations of Real Property,” May 3, 2017.
  • Speaker, “The Ultimate Guide to Probate,” National Business Institute, December 6, 2016.
  • Speaker, “Connecticut Estate and Income Domicile & Residency Audits,” Federal Tax Institute of New England, November 18, 2016.
  • Speaker, “Internal Revenue Service’s Section 2704 Proposed Regulations,” Tax Section of the Connecticut Bar Association, October 19, 2016.
  • Speaker, “Cancellation of Indebtedness Income,” Annual Meeting of the Connecticut Bar Association, June 13, 2016.
  • Speaker, “Representing Clients in Civil Tax Collection Matters,” New York Society of Indepedent Accountants, June 18, 2015.
  • Speaker, “2014 Connecticut Tax Law Changes,” New York Society of Independent Accountants, January 6, 2015.
  • Speaker, “Everything You Wanted to Know About Choosing a Business Entity and Starting a Business from the IRS/ DRS Perspective,” Fairfield County Bar Association, December 9, 2014.
  • Speaker, “The Connecticut Model Entity Transaction Act,” Connecticut Society of Certified Public Accountants, September 18, 2014.
  • Speaker, “Tax Aspects of Cross Entity Mergers and Conversions,” Connecticut Bar Association, March 21, 2014.
  • Author, “The Use of Beneficiary Defective Trusts in Modern Estate Planning,” 48 A.B.A. REAL PROP. TR. & EST. L.J. 353 (2014).
  • Speaker, “Tax Considerations in Choice of Business Entity,” Connecticut Bar Association November 15, 2013.
  • Speaker, “The Use of Beneficiary Owned Trusts and a Comparison of Such Trusts to Alternate Estate Planning Vehicles,” Connecticut Bar Association’s Tax Section, March 20, 2013.
  • Author, “The Survival of Universal Health Care in Massachusetts,” 32 W. NEW. ENG. L. REV. 141 (2010).

Jansen,
Wyatt R.

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Wyatt is a Partner in the Litigation Department focusing on complex business and fiduciary, trust, and estate disputes in Connecticut and New York courts.  Wyatt has represented VC firms and their principals, family offices, individual and corporate fiduciaries, financial industry professionals, and trust and estate beneficiaries in a wide variety of matters involving trade secrets, noncompetition and nonsolicit agreements; shareholder and membership disputes; corporate books and records claims; contested trust accounting, construction, and removal proceedings; fiduciary duty claims; and inheritance litigation.  Wyatt also regularly serves as Connecticut counsel for national and international law firms.

Wyatt’s experience includes key contributions to the Firm’s:

  • Successful defense at trial of claims to pierce the corporate veil to enforce a foreign judgment exceeding $300 million
  • Successful defense at trial and on appeal of validity of charitable gift exceeding $100 million (one of the largest in Connecticut history)
  • Successful defense of claim arising from alleged multimillion-dollar equity grant in VC fund’s portfolio company, withdrawn by plaintiff without payment following plaintiff’s deposition
  • Successful petition to obtain jurisdiction over Swiss trustees of offshore trust and to prevent liquidation of trust assets
  • Successful petition for a seven-figure annual support allowance (believed to be among the largest in Connecticut history) for estate beneficiaries
  • Successful petition for Attorney General approval of eight-figure interested-party transaction between private foundation and its directors
  • Successful resolution of dispute involving purported restatement of two substantial trusts negatively affecting minor beneficiaries

Wyatt is a member of the Connecticut Committee of the Federal Bar Council and the Connecticut, Fairfield County, and Greenwich bar associations. He has been recognized as a Connecticut Super Lawyer® Rising Star in the areas of business litigation and trust and estate litigation every year since 2018.  See selection information at http://www.superlawyers.com/connecticut/selection_details.html

Publications & Presentations

When Offshore Trust Disputes Wash Up Onshore, ALI/ABA – Representing Estate & Trust Beneficiaries & Fiduciaries (June 2019)

Connecticut’s Celotex Problem: Preventing Unnecessary Trials by Revitalizing Summary Judgment, Connecticut Law Tribune (Feb. 14, 2018)

Opportunity and Danger: Conn. Statutes of Limitations Don’t Apply to Arbitration, Connecticut Law Tribune (Feb. 8, 2018)

Enforcing the Unenforceable Forum Selection Clause, Connecticut Law Tribune (Dec. 1, 2016)

Strategic Removal & the Voluntary-Involuntary Rule, Connecticut Law Tribune (Aug. 15, 2016)

Impermissible Windfalls? Unemployment Insurance, Back Pay, and the Two Classes of Title VII Plaintiffs, 18 Connecticut Insurance Law Journal 307 (2012)