Stephen R. Akers JD

Steve R. Akers, JD, is a Managing Director with Bessemer Trust Company, N.A., in Dallas, Texas, where he is Fiduciary Counsel for the Southwest Region and is in the Legacy Planning Department. Mr. Akers is a member of the Advisory Committee to the University of Miami Philip E. Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning and is a frequent speaker at that Institute, as well as other estate planning seminars across the country. He is a past Chair of the American Bar Association’s Section of Real Property, Trust & Estate Law. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, and currently serves a member of the Executive Committee, Regent, and Chair of the Business Planning Committee and previously served on the Long Range Planning Committee. He is a past editor of the ACTEC Law Journal. Mr. Akers is a past Chair of the State Bar of Texas Real Estate, Probate and Trust Law Section and of the Dallas Bar Probate, Trusts and Estates Section. He is a co-author of A Planning Guide to Buy-Sell Agreements and Estate Planning After the Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2010. Mr. Akers has received the Distinguished Accredited Estate Planner Award from the National Association of Estate Planning Councils, the Distinguished Probate Lawyer Lifetime Achievement Award from the State Bar of Texas Real Estate, Probate and Trust Law Section, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Dallas Bar Association Probate, Trusts & Estates Section.