How Immigration Law Impacts Matrimonial Law, Guardianship & Conservatorship, and Estate Planning

Format: Online only- and will be recorded.

Faculty

• Matthew A. Berlin, Esq., Rubin Rudman
• Lisa M. Cukier, Esq., Rubin Rudman
• Abigail E. Howard, Rubin Rudman
• Shiva Karimi, Esq., McLane Middleton

Immigration status can dramatically affect family relationships, financial planning, parental rights, and estate planning decisions. Yet many family law, guardianship, conservatorship, and trusts and estates practitioners encounter immigration-related issues without recognizing the significant legal consequences that may arise for their clients and their families. This interdisciplinary program will explore the critical intersection of immigration law with family law and fiduciary planning and estate planning, providing attorneys with practical tools to identify issues, recognize risks, and better protect vulnerable individuals and families. 

From fiancé visas and marriage-based immigration petitions, to prenuptial planning, divorce considerations, custody planning, guardianship and conservatorship arrangements, estate planning, and emergency preparedness planning for potential adverse immigration action, practitioners will gain insight into the legal and practical challenges facing families.

The presentation will examine how immigration status may influence marriage formation, marital planning, spousal support, property division, and parent-child relationships, trust planning and succession to estates. Attendees will learn how fiancé visas, marriage visas, and prenuptial agreements can affect timing, documentation, financial obligations, and strategic planning for couples contemplating marriage. The program will also address the unique role of prenuptial and postnuptial agreements and estate planning through wills and trusts in international, domestic and cross-border relationships, including considerations involving immigration sponsorship obligations, financial disclosure, and asset protection planning in the event of death and divorce. The program will further address the consequences of immigration enforcement actions, detention, removal proceedings, and other adverse immigration developments that can unexpectedly separate family members. Attorneys will learn how to help clients prepare for family disruptions through proactive legal planning, including emergency caregiver authorizations, parental delegations, standby guardianship nominations, temporary guardianship arrangements, conservatorship planning, health care decision-making documents, powers of attorney, and other mechanisms designed to protect children, elders, and dependent adults during periods of family instability. Trusts and estates practitioners will gain practical guidance regarding emergency estate planning for immigrant and mixed-status families, including incapacity planning, guardianship designations, trustee and fiduciary succession provisions, beneficiary considerations, and strategies for preserving family continuity when a parent, caregiver, or decision-maker may suddenly become unavailable. 
 
Through case law, war stories, and real-world planning scenarios, attendees will develop a framework for spotting immigration-related risks that routinely arise in family law, estate planning, and fiduciary matters, while building effective interdisciplinary strategies to safeguard clients, children, and families.

Attendees Will Learn:

• How fiancé visas, marriage-based visas, and family immigration pathways affect family law and marital planning.
• Key immigration-related considerations in prenuptial and postnuptial agreements.
• The impact of immigration status on marriage, divorce, child custody, support, and family financial planning.
• How adverse immigration actions can affect parental rights, caregiving arrangements, asset access and structures, and family stability.
• Practical uses of standby guardianship designations, temporary guardianships, parental delegations, caregiver authorizations, conservatorships, and emergency decision-making documents.
• Estate planning strategies designed to protect children, dependent adults, and family assets during periods of immigration-related uncertainty.

 
This program will provide valuable guidance for navigating the growing areas of overlap between immigration law and family-centered legal practice. In an increasingly interconnected world, lawyers who understand these issues will be better positioned to anticipate risks, advise clients proactively, and help families remain protected when legal, personal, and immigration challenges intersect.