2025 Advanced Tax Institute Day 3 - Estate Planning Issues

Nicole R. Hewitt, Esq.

Attorney & Partner

Nicole practices in the area of Estate Planning and Estate Administration, Elder Law, Special Need Planning, Business Planning, and Title and Real Estate Transactions, with an emphasis on the tax aspects of each area. She represents individuals, business owners, young families, individuals reaching retirement, and the elderly in connection with planning to meet their estate, tax and medical assistance planning goals. In addition, Nicole works with individuals and families with special needs, including trusts and adult guardianships.

Prior to co-founding HWK Law Group, Nicole was a senior tax associate with two Big 5 accounting firms, an associate with a large prominent Baltimore law firm, served as both General Counsel and Executive Director to a national mortgage lender/broker, and was a co-owner of an affiliated multi-state title company.

Nicole resides in Lutherville with her husband and three children. She enjoys her frequent trips to Florida, playing tennis, traveling, skiing, and spending time with her family and friends.

Admitted
Court of Appeals of Maryland
Supreme Court of Florida

Education
Georgetown University School of Law, LL.M in Taxation
University of Baltimore School of Law,  J.D. (Concentration Certificates in Estate Planning & Business Law)
Loyola University of MD, B.A.Political Science
Maryvale Preparatory School

Licenses
Maryland Title Insurance Producer – License No. 64153
Notary Public for the State of MD
Pennsylvania Non-Resident Title Agent — License No. 986885

Professional Affiliations
Maryland State Bar Association
Florida Bar Association
Palm Beach County Bar Association

Community Affiliations
Maryvale Preparatory School – Presidents Advisory Council, 2015 – 2018
Maryvale Preparatory School – Board of Trustees, 2018 – 2024
Maryvale Preparatory School – Chair of Governance Committee, 2020 – 2024
Baltimore Estate Planning Council, Member
Catholic Business Network of Baltimore, Member
National Aging in Place (NAIPC) – Baltimore Chapter, Member

Beth Shapiro Kaufman is a Partner in the Washington D.C. office of the law firm of Lowenstein Sandler, practicing in the areas of estate planning, estate, gift and

generation-skipping tax, and income taxation of trusts and estates. At Lowenstein, Ms. Kaufman is the National Chair of the Private Client Services Group, where she assists wealthy

individuals with their estate planning and tax controversies. She also advises lawyers and other professionals on complex issues regarding estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer taxes in both planning and audit contexts. She is frequently retained by counsel to advocate a taxpayer's position before the Internal Revenue Service, and has been particularly active in obtaining

relief for failed generation-skipping transfer tax exemption allocations. From 1995 to 2001, Ms. Kaufman was an Associate Tax Legislative Counsel in the U.S. Treasury Department’s

Office of Tax Policy. In that capacity, she was responsible for estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer tax issues, as well as income tax issues relating to trusts and estates. Ms. Kaufman is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, where she currently chairs the Estate and Gift Tax Committee and serves on the Board of Regents. Ms. Kaufman received her B.A. from Pomona College and her J.D. from Harvard Law School, where she was an editor of the Harvard Law Review.

Emily Plocki assists high-net-worth individuals, multigenerational families, and owners of family corporations, both domestically and internationally, with tax planning and wealth preservation. Emily handles a variety of matters, including estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer tax planning; trust and estate administration; planned charitable giving; and business succession strategies. She prepares sophisticated lifetime and estate planning documents, designed to help families and individuals preserve and grow the businesses and legacies they have built over a lifetime.

Prior to joining Venable, Emily was an associate at an international law firm, where she assisted clients with implementing efficient multigenerational wealth transfer strategies, counseled on tax and succession planning for owners of closely held businesses, and worked with clients to incorporate philanthropic and other non-tax objectives into their estate plans. Emily’s experience also includes working as a law clerk with an estate planning boutique in Washington, DC, where she assisted with tax and estate planning for individuals, businesses, and nonprofit organizations. She also participated in the IRS Employee Plans Volunteer Law Student Program, where she researched 401(k) requirements.

The Honorable Byron E. Macfarlane was first elected Register of Wills for Howard County in 2010. He is the 18th Register and first openly gay elected official in Howard County history. From 2013 to 2016, Byron served as President of the Maryland Register of Wills Association.

Byron is a county native and attended Howard County public schools. He credits his public school education for inspiring his passion for government and public service. Byron has worked at the county, state, and federal levels of government, for County Councilman Guy Guzzone, Circuit Court Judge Richard Bernhardt, State Senator Edward J. Kasemeyer, and United States Senator Edward M. Kennedy. From 2004 to 2006, Byron served as Legislative Director to Delegate Peter Franchot, now the Comptroller of Maryland. In 2006, Byron was elected to serve on the Howard County Democratic Central Committee.

Byron earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Baltimore School of Law, where he concentrated on public and governmental service. Prior to earning his law degree, Byron attended the University of Maryland, College Park, receiving his bachelor’s degree in government and political science, with Citations in Public Leadership and Communication. He is an Honorary Alumnus Member of the Omicron Delta Kappa National Leadership Honor Society.

A strong believer in lifetime learning, Byron is a graduate of the Leadership Howard County Premier Class of 2017 and the Central Maryland Transportation Alliance’s “Transportation 101” Course of 2017. From 2015 to 2017, he served as an adjunct faculty member at Howard University School of Law. Most recently, he was named a 2018 Bohnett Leaders Fellow and completed the Senior Executives in State and Local Government program at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

Byron values community involvement. He is a member of several local, state, and national organizations: Howard County Bar Association; Maryland Bar Association; National College of Probate Judges; Howard County Estate Planning Council (Founding Member); Maryland Student Legislature Board of Advisors; Columbia Democratic Club; Thurgood Marshall Democratic Club; PFLAG of Howard County; League of Women Voters of Howard County; Howard County NAACP, NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland; American Civil Liberties Union; Sierra Club and Human Rights Campaign. In 2013, Byron was selected by the Baltimore Business Journal as a “40 Under 40” Honoree.