• Practice Areas: Estate Planning, Probate, Strategic Business Planning, Real Estate
• Licensed Only in Arizona
  3411 N. 5th Avenue, Suite 309
  Phoenix, AZ 85013
• Phone: (480) 945‑9131
• Email: Mark.Bregman@azbar.org
• Education: J.D., Arizona State University, 1979; B. A. (Political Science) Va. Tech 1973

Mark practiced in Scottsdale from 1979 until 2012 and now practices in Central Phoenix.  He was trained as an IRS field agent.  He achieved high distinction honors on the Arizona Bar Examination and has been recognized by his peers and Phoenix Magazine as a preeminent lawyer in Maricopa County, Arizona.

As a frequent lecturer, facilitator, bar association leader and volunteer, Mark contributes to the fabric of the Phoenix legal and charitable communities. He is a past president of the Scottsdale Bar Association, a former judge pro-tempore for the Maricopa County Superior Courts and has been a volunteer softball coach, mock trial coach for Saguaro High School, and alternate committee member of the State Bar discipline committee. He is a former member of the State Bar fee arbitration committee. He is currently president of the Council for Jews with Special Needs, a 25 year old 501 ©(3) charity that provides assistance bringing Jewish culture and social activities into the lives of developmental disabled children, young adults and adults.

Mark Bregman

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Mark’s training in alternate dispute resolution techniques gives him a balanced perspective toward problem solving; his litigation experience ensures that he zealously approaches each client’s legal needs. Mark was a lead attorney in landmark probate litigation that established in Arizona the enforceability of a living trust as a contract; was the lawyer responsible for the decision approving pre-bankruptcy disclaimer planning that has nationwide significance; and has litigated the limits of protective trusts.

Mark was also the lead counsel in two important estate and trust cases that have been often written about and the results debated in law review and legal periodicals. The first, in re the Estate and Trust of Pilafas is a 1991 case defining differences between wills and living trusts. It has been cited in many subsequent cases in many jurisdictions for the proposition that when a trust specifies the manner of revocation that method must be followed. In the second case, Gaughan v. The Edward Dittlof Revocable Trust, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals held that a pre-bankruptcy disclaimer of an inheritance was effective and did not become part of a debtor’s bankruptcy estate. This controversial case remains the standard bearer among disclaimer asset protection cases. He has represented clients in other reported and unreported decisions involving issues of trust law interpretation and the application of spendthrift protection provisions.

Mark’s speaking and writing experience includes presentations on the following topics:

• Preparing 706 Estate, Gift, and Generation Skipping Tax Returns (National Teleconference)
• Using ILITs in Estate Planning (National Teleconference)
• Drafting Effective Arizona Trusts
• Estate Planning and Recovery for Elderly Clients
• Protecting Personal Assets and Minimizing Estate Taxes at Death
• Disclaimers
• Fundamental Probate Practices and Procedures
• Assisting with Estate Planning (for Paralegals)
• Probate Process from Start to Finish
• ILITs
• Ethical Considerations in Estate Planning
• Spousal Rights and Family Maintenance
• Meeting the Special Needs of the Elderly

Published articles include:

• Charitable Remainder Trusts: How Many Objectives Can One Strategy Satisfy, May/June 2001, Planned Giving, the newsletter of the Arizona Community Foundation
• Changes to Individual Retirement Accounts, The Maricopa Lawyer (2002).