James Lamm

Career

Jim Lamm is a third-generation Minnesota estate planning and tax attorney. He focuses his practice on estate planning, tax planning, family business succession planning, probate and trust administration, and charitable giving. Jim works with executives, entrepreneurs, professional athletes, high-net-worth families, and family offices to achieve family goals, pass on family values, and plan for family businesses.

Jim is nationally known for his speaking and writing on advanced estate planning and tax topics, and he has been interviewed and quoted by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, The Washington Post, Star Tribune, The Boston Globe, The Seattle Times, The Associated Press, Reuters, Forbes magazine, Intellectual Property Magazine, Barron’s, Bloomberg, InvestmentNews, Kiplinger’s, Morningstar, Pew Research Center, Twin Cities Business, Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, MSNBC, KSTP television, KMSP television, National Public Radio, and more. Jim is a Fellow in the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC), and he is a member of ACTEC’s Board of Regents. He served as a past chair of ACTEC’s Technology in the Practice Committee, a past chair of ACTEC’s Digital Property Committee, and a past co-chair of ACTEC’s Artificial Intelligence Task Force. Jim also has been an adjunct associate professor teaching an Estate Planning and Drafting seminar at the University of Minnesota Law School.

Jim plans and prepares foundational estate planning documents for families including wills, revocable trusts (living trusts), financial powers of attorney, health care directives (living wills), and beneficiary designations for life insurance and retirement plans. Jim also works with families and family business owners to plan and implement trusts for children or grandchildren, irrevocable life insurance trusts (ILITs), spousal lifetime access trusts (SLATs), grantor retained annuity trusts (GRATs), qualified personal residence trusts (QPRTs), intentionally-defective grantor trusts (IDGTs), dynasty trusts, installment sales, split-dollar life insurance agreements, private foundations, donor advised funds, charitable remainder trusts, charitable lead trusts, prenuptial agreements, family limited partnerships and limited liability companies, and buy-sell agreements.

Jim also works with families, family offices, and other professionals to help them through the probate and estate settlement process, as well as to administer trusts, prepare tax returns, and resolve trust, estate, and tax disputes.