Published July 21, 2016 by Dan Ruttenberg
Preparing in advance is vital if you want to protect your assets and have a say in how they are passed on. SmolenPlevy Principal Dan Ruttenberg, JD, CPA, LLM shares estate planning tips on local TV show, Senior Living in Alexandria.
“Legal documents are tools to address issues,” Ruttenberg tells Senior Living in Alexandria host Jim Roberts. It is important to have documents that keep you covered in case of death or disability. Particularly in the event of a disability, you want to have confidence in who is making decisions on your behalf.
What happens if you don’t have an estate plan in place? That will depend on the circumstances at the time — Ruttenberg explains important estate planning tips, including how to avoid probate in the complete segment above.
Daniel H. Ruttenberg
Daniel H. Ruttenberg is a principal with the firm. He is a member of the Bar in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia, and is licensed as a Certified Public Accountant in the State of Maryland. Mr. Ruttenberg received his Bachelor of Science degree with a double major in Accounting and Finance from the University of Maryland. He earned his Juris Doctor with Honors from George Mason University School of Law and his Master of Laws in Taxation with Distinction from Georgetown University Law Center. Mr. Ruttenberg is the author of “The Tax Court’s Execution of the Family Entity: The Tax Court’s Application of Internal Revenue Code Section 2036(a) to Family Entities,” North Dakota Law Review Vol. 80:41 (2004). For the past six years, he has served as Vice President of Devotion To Children, a charity which provides access to high-quality educational and childcare programs for children from low-income families, aged six and under. Mr. Ruttenberg served as the Director of the Fairfax Bar Association (FBA) for seven years. During this period, he was also elected president – the youngest in FBA history. He also served as a member of the Board of Directors for the Fairfax Law Foundation. Mr. Ruttenberg received a SmartCEO Magazine Power Player award in 2013 and 2014, and was named a Top Lawyer by Northern Virginia Magazine in 2015, 2013, 2010 and 2009. Most recently, he was selected as one of the 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 “Best Lawyers in America” by Best Lawyers.
