Lester concentrates his practice on sophisticated estate and tax planning for high net worth families, including the preparation of wills and trusts, insurance planning, family limited partnerships, defective grantor trusts, grantor retained annuity trusts, residence trusts, asset protection planning, generation-skipping planning, dynasty trusts, and the preparation of prenuptial agreements. He also assists clients with business succession planning, including shareholders’ agreements, buy-sell and cross purchase agreements, insurance arrangements utilizing sophisticated funding arrangements and split-dollar planning, deferred compensation, and tax planning.
Lester assists clients with complex estate administration, including probate, asset valuations, disclaimers, income tax planning, maintenance of accounting records, the preparation of estate tax returns, post-mortem planning, assisting beneficiaries with distributions, settlement of estates on a formal or informal basis, and representation of executors in estate tax audits with the Internal Revenue Service. He also counsels clients on charitable planning, including the creation of private charitable foundations, supporting foundations, charitable remainder trusts, charitable lead trusts, and the negotiation of contributions to charitable institutions.
Lester has significant experience handling the unique planning issues associated with private art collections, and works routinely with international and regional auction houses, museums, and art appraisers in overseeing the acquisition, maintenance, gifting and sale of works of art.
Lester is actively involved in the community, providing assistance to charitable organizations with planned giving, probate, and trust law issues. In addition to his professional activities, he is a board member of Kohelet Yeshiva High School and adviser to the Kohelet Foundation, and he served on the board of Trustees of Jewish Family and Children’s Services.
Lester serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School where he teaches the course Gift and Estate Tax in Practice.
Lester earned his undergraduate degree, cum laude, from New York University and his law degree, with honors, from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.