It is a professional organization of lawyers, fiduciary counsel and law professors, peer-elected to membership by demonstrating the highest level of integrity, commitment to the profession, expertise, and experience as trust and estate counselors.
After several name changes, The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel was selected in 1990 as the new name for the not-for-profit corporation under the laws of the State of California.
[6][7] The mission of the college is to maintain an association, international in scope, of lawyers skilled and experienced in the practice of trust and estate law and the related practice areas mentioned above, and to: serve as an educational source in those areas; study, improve and reform probate, trust, and tax laws, procedures, and professional responsibility; bring together qualified lawyers whose character and ability contribute to the achievement of the purposes of the college; and cooperate with bar associations and other organizations with similar purposes.
[10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] An amicus brief in The North Carolina Department of Revenue v. The Kimberley Rice Kaestner 1992 Family Trust was filed on March 1, 2019, with the Supreme Court by ACTEC.
[20] The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, ACTEC, will periodically provide technical comments and expertise to the US Congress, the Internal Revenue Service, and the United States Department of the Treasury in regard to proposed or existing regulations, forms, or other administrative rulings.