Overview
Deborah S. Breck’s practice includes estate planning and related elder law issues, counseling individual and corporate clients concerning their rights and responsibilities as fiduciaries with respect to estate and trust administration and representing executors, trustees, conservators, creditors and beneficiaries in estate and trust controversies.
Debbie has published numerous articles on estate and tax planning issues and has conducted related seminars for members of the public as well as courses of study for estate planning and tax professionals.
Contact Info
Professional Affiliations
American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) - Fellow
American Bar Association - Real Property and Probate Section; Law Practice Management Section
Connecticut Bar Association - Estates and Probate Section
Community Involvement
Fairfield County Community Foundation - Professional Advisors Council
Former member, board of directors, Housatonic Community College Foundation; Greater Bridgeport Symphony Orchestra, United Home Care, Inc., South Shore Music, Inc. and Fanny Crosby Memorial Foundation
Former member, Bridgeport Hospital Ethics Committee; Planned Giving Committee of the Ahlbin Centers for Rehabilitative Medicine and the Fairfield PTA Council
Honors & Recognitions
Rated AV Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell since 2001
Selected to Bar Register of Preeminent Women Lawyers by Martindale-Hubbell
Included in The Best Lawyers in America in the area of trusts and estates since 2012
Selected to the Connecticut Super Lawyers list since 2006 in the area of estate planning and probate
Selected to Best Attorneys in Connecticut (2012, 2013); New York's Top Attorneys (2013); Top Attorneys in Connecticut - Estate Planning & Probate Law (Connecticut Magazine 2012); Top Lawyers in Fairfield County (2012); Top Women Lawyers in the Northeast (2011)
Experience
- Estate planning for wealthy individuals including corporate executives and family business owners
- Develop and implement estate plans for domestic and international clients designed to minimize federal and State gift, estate and generation-skipping taxes and to facilitate effective and efficient distribution of assets. Such plans may include utilizing revocable trusts, insurance trusts, grantor retained interest trusts and limited liability companies
- Develop and implement estate plans designed to benefit charitable causes which may include establishing various forms of charitable trusts and private foundations
- Supervise the probate and tax administration of Connecticut domiciliary and ancillary decedents’ estates, trusts and conservator estates
- Represent clients before the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and the Connecticut Department of Revenue Services in federal and Connecticut estate tax matters
- Represent fiduciaries, beneficiaries and creditors in contested tax and probate matters
- Represent individuals, area hospitals and nursing homes in probate and Medicaid (Title XIX) matters
- Serve as private and court-appointed administrator, conservator, executor and trustee
News & Insights
News
Publications
Press Releases
Case Studies
Practice Areas
Industries
Bar and Court Admissions
- Connecticut
- U.S. Tax Court
Education
University of Connecticut School of Law, J.D., with honors, 1982; associate editor, Connecticut Law Review
Southern Connecticut State University, 1975