
Susan J. Link
Partner
f612.642.8349
susan.link@maslon.com
3300 Wells Fargo Center
90 South Seventh Street
Minneapolis, MN 55402
Susan Link is Chair of Maslon's Estate Planning Group and practices in the areas of estate planning, probate and trust administration. She works with families to plan the disposition of their assets, both during lifetime and at death, and to accomplish the optimal estate and gift tax planning for the clients through wills, trusts and other instruments. Susan routinely drafts estate plans that include disclaimer planning and credit shelter plans, in addition to drafting and implementing charitable lead trusts, charitable remainder trusts, qualified personal residence trusts, irrevocable insurance trusts, minors' trusts, antenuptial agreements and postnuptial agreements. She is regularly involved in the analysis and issues of lifetime gifting programs, estate tax planning and generation-skipping issues.
Susan also works with families after the death of a family member to ensure that the client's wishes are achieved and that the plan they created is carried out. If appropriate, Susan also advises estate and trust beneficiaries during administration in order to maximize their own planning options relative to their share of a decedent's estate through the use of disclaimers and powers of appointment.
Susan is a member of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, and has taught as an adjunct professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law.
- Estate Planning
- Antenuptial and Postnuptial Agreements
- Asset Protection Planning
- Business Succession Planning
- Charitable Trusts and Foundations
- Estate and Gift Tax Controversies
- Estate and Gift Tax Planning
- Guardianships and Conservatorships
- Probate and Trust Administration
- Probate and Trust Litigation
- Retirement Benefit Planning
- Wills & Trusts
- Wills
- Trusts
- Notre Dame Law School, Notre Dame, Indiana,
1986
J.D. - Loyola University, Chicago, Illinois,
1983
B.A.
Honors: Magna Cum Laude
Major: Political Science
Minor: Philosophy and Theology
- Illinois, 1986
- U.S. District Court Northern District of Illinois, 1986
- Minnesota, 1994
- American Bar Association - Member
- American College of Trust and Estate Counsel - Member
- Minnesota State Bar Association - Member
- Governing Council of the Probate and Trust Law Section, Minnesota State Bar Association, 2001 - 2007 - Member
- Probate and Trust Law Section, Minnesota State Bar Association, 2010 - Chair
- Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility, Probate and Trust Law Section, Minnesota State Bar Association, 2002 - 2007 - Chair
- Minnesota Wills for Heroes Committee, Probate and Trust Law Section, Minnesota State Bar Association, 2006 - Present - Chair
- Hennepin County Bar Association - Member
- Minnesota Women Lawyers - Member
- Minnesota State Bar Association, Wills for Heroes Minnesota, Program Director
- Dead Head's 101-- A Probate Practioner's Panel, 36th Annual Probate and Trust Law Section Conference, Minnesota State Bar Association, Continuing Legal Education, June 8, 2010
- Probate and Estate: Minnesota Estate Administration Deskbook Update Webcast, Minnesota State Bar Association, Continuing Legal Education, January 26, 2010
- Minnesota Probate Practice A-Z, Minnesota State Bar Association, Continuing Legal Education, 2009
- Probate Law - Didn't They Teach You That in Law School, 35th Annual Probate and Trust Law Section Conference, Minnesota State Bar Association, Continuing Legal Education, 2009
- Wills for Heroes, 34th Annual Probate and Trust Law Section Conference, Minnesota State Bar Association, Continuing Legal Education, 2008
- Probate Practitioner's Panel, 34th Annual Probate and Trust Law Section Conference, Minnesota State Bar Association, Continuing Legal Education, 2008
- Wills for Heroes, 2008 Pro Bono Conference, National Federation of Paralegal Associations, Inc. (NFPA) and NFPA's Pro Bono Committee
- The New Lawyer Experience, Minnesota State Bar Association, Continuing Legal Education, 2008
- Opening an Estate, Inventory and Disclaimers, Minnesota Estate Administration, 3rd Edition, Minnesota State Bar Association, Continuing Legal Education, 2007
- Creditor's Claims, Minnesota Estate Administration, 3rd Edition, Minnesota State Bar Association, Continuing Legal Education, 2007
- Alzheimer's: Issues & Solutions for Minnesota Attorneys and Caregivers, Minnesota State Bar Association, Continuing Legal Education, 2006
- Productivity, Profitability, and Paralegals in your Probate Practice, 31st Annual Probate and Trust Law Section Conference, Minnesota State Bar Association, Continuing Legal Education, 2006
- Adjunct Professor, Estate Planning and Taxation of Gifts, University of St. Thomas School of Law, 2006
- Adjunct Professor, Wills, Estates and Trusts, University of St. Thomas School of Law, 2005
- Estate Planning, CF 205, Financial Planning Certificate Program, Minnesota State University, Mankato, 2004
- Ethics and Professional Responsibility, 30th Annual Probate and Trust Law Section Conference, Minnesota State Bar Association, Continuing Legal Education, 2004
- Formal Probate, Fundamentals of Probate, Minnesota State Bar Association, Continuing Legal Education, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
- Opening an Estate, 28th Annual Probate and Trust Law Section Conference, Minnesota State Bar Association, Continuing Legal Education, 2002
- Opening an Estate, Minnesota Estate Administration, Minnesota State Bar Association, Continuing Legal Education, 2002
- Opening Forms, Fundamentals of Probate, Minnesota State Bar Association, Continuing Legal Education, 1996, 1997, 1999
- Drafting QPRTs, 23rd Annual Probate and Trust Law Section Conference, 1997
- Estate Planning: Oh to be Rich and Famous, Minnesota Law and Politics, 1997
- Internal Revenue Code Sections 303, 2207A, 6166 and 2032A, Administering the Taxable Estate Seminar, Minnesota State Bar Association, Continuing Legal Education, 1995
- Minnesota Estate Administration, 3d, Editor-in-Chief, Minnesota Continuing Legal Education, 2008 and updates in 2009 and 2010
- Opening an Estate, Inventory and Disclaimers, Minnesota Estate Administration 3d, Chapter Author, Minnesota Continuing Legal Education, 2008, 2009, 2010
- Elder Law Trusts and Estates (Chapter Author: Transferring Assets to the Next Generation: Strategies for Effective Estate Planning), Aspatore Books, July, 2008
- Minnesota Probate Deskbook, 2008-2009 Edition, (Co-Authored with John W. Provo), West, Vol. 24, Minnesota Practice Series,
- Minnesota Estate Administration, 3d, Editor-in-Chief, Minnesota Continuing Legal Education, 2007
- Opening an Estate, Inventory and Disclaimers, Chapter Author, Minnesota Estate Administration, 3d, Minnesota Continuing Education, 2007
- Minnesota Estate Administration, 2d, Editor-in-Chief, Minnesota Continuing Legal Education, 2006 Update
- Minnesota Probate Deskbook, (Co-Authored with John W. Provo), Vol. 24, Minnesota Practice Series, West, 2006
- Minnesota Probate Deskbook, (Co-Authored with John W. Provo), Vol. 24, Minnesota Practice Series, West, 2004-2005
- Minnesota Estate Administration, 2d, Editor-in-Chief, Minnesota Continuing Legal Education, 2002
- Opening an Estate, Chapter Author, Minnesota Estate Administration, 2d, Minnesota Continuing Legal Education, 2002
- Historic Shipwreck Legislation: Rescuing the Titanic from the Law of the Sea, 13 J. Legis. 1986
- Top-Listed in Best Lawyers in America
- Twin Cities 2009 FIVE STAR Wealth Managers, Twin Cities Business
- Worth Magazine, Top 100 Attorneys, 2007
- President's Award (as Co-Chair of Wills for Heroes Minnesota), Minnesota State Bar Association, 2007
- Fellow, American College of Trusts and Estate Counsel, 2004 - 2008
- Minnesota Super Lawyers
- Top 40 Trust and Estate Minnesota Super Lawyers
- Top 100 Women Minnesota Super Lawyers
- Top 100 Minnesota Super Lawyers
- AV Rating, Martindale-Hubbell (AV, BV, and CV are registered certification marks of Reed Elsevier Properties, Inc., used in accordance with the Martindale-Hubbell certification procedures, standards and policies)