According to one client, “Marya provides outstanding legal guidance and insight. She is an exceptionally calm and experienced voice in the middle of a storm and appropriately strong and fierce in supporting clients. She quickly adapts to emerging legal obstacles and readjusts midstream to strategies that fit the situation. Marya’s ability to advise on best courses of action has been invaluable.”

A member of Lathrop GPM’s Executive Committee, Marya Robben also serves as the national practice group leader for the firm’s Private Client Services practice group. She helps clients determine how to build an estate plan to address their goals for their family, friends and specific assets. She works with clients to plan and administer complex estates so they, their families and beneficiaries remain in control of their assets. Marya’s proactive approach to estate planning and administration helps clients avoid probate problems, protect assets from creditors, optimize taxes, plan for and implement business succession and administer complex estates.

Estate Planning

Clients working with Marya benefit from her comprehensive estate planning and legacy management approach. She provides tailored solutions that help clients achieve their personal and financial goals, ensuring the protection and preservation of their legacy for future generations, and properly navigating fiduciary duties to other professionals. She also helps clients with:

  • Business succession planning for closely held and family-owned businesses
  • Charitable giving
  • Disclaimer planning
  • Estate and gift taxation planning and reporting
  • Generation-skipping transfer tax planning
  • Marital deduction planning
  • Trust formation
    • Revocable trusts
    • Irrevocable trusts, including Intentionally Defective Grantor Trusts (IDGTs), Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts (GRATs), Spousal Limited Access Trusts (SLATs), Irrevocable Insurance Trusts (ILITs) and more.

Estate and Trust Administration

In addition to estate planning, Marya serves clients needing trust and estate administration and litigation. This includes providing clients with legal counsel and advocacy regarding:

  • Asset distribution
  • Conservatorship and guardianship administration
  • Creditor management
  • Estate tax reporting and settlement
  • Fiduciary representation and dispute resolution
  • Litigation
  • Probate estate administration
  • Trust administration
  • Valuation management
  • Will contents

As a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC), Marya is highly regarded for her contributions to the field. She regularly writes and speaks on estate planning and probate matters, including having been quoted by The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. For 10 years, Marya was an adjunct professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law, teaching courses on Wills, Trusts & Estates.

When asked about her personal philosophy, Marya Robben said, “I’m called to serve others, which enables me to see this practice from a unique perspective. I want to help clients find peace of mind by listening to their goals, addressing their questions and creating estate plans that carry out their intentions. Whether simplifying the tax code or navigating the wealth transfer process, the aim is to reduce worry, offer a fresh perspective and make the process understandable.” She also noted how proud she is to serve as the practice group leader, connecting teams across multiple offices and supporting others in their career success.

When asked…

Why did you become a lawyer?

I wanted to become an attorney because representing individuals in planning for their families and assisting them during times of loss is an incredible honor. Every day, I am thankful for the gift this career has brought into my life, allowing me to serve others by explaining the wealth transfer systems in our country and ensuring people’s final wishes are carried out.

What do you do outside of work?

Outside of work, I enjoy gardening, humorously referred to as maintaining a flower buffet for rabbits. This brings me both humor and joy. With my family entering the empty nest stage, we are starting to travel more, and I am in the early stages of practicing yoga.

Areas of Focus

Services

Sectors

Experience

  • Assisted a private client in setting up irrevocable grantor trusts for gift planning and structured funding to include both gifts and sales, thereby transferring assets across multiple generations free of estate and gift transfer taxes through a South Dakota dynasty trust.
  • Guided closely held business owners in the creation of irrevocable trusts as part of a holistic estate plan before a liquidity event, helping save several million dollars in future estate taxes.

  • Helped a physician and their spouse create a comprehensive, easy-to-understand estate plan to address their family's needs, including provisions for minor children in the event of incapacity or death. This included establishing an irrevocable life insurance trust to ensure that policy proceeds would be sheltered from state and federal estate taxes.
  • Navigated court proceedings to assist the trust beneficiary in changing professional trustee where terms of the trust instrument were silent regarding the removal of the trustee and appointment of a new trustee.
  • Represented professional trust company to obtain court approval for termination of contested trust, approval of proposed distribution plan and approval of trustee actions where trust had existed for several decades with illiquid assets.
  • Supported individual attorney-in-fact in navigating powers and duties while facing uncooperative and problematic co-fiduciary where assets included revocable trust, investment accounts, real estate and other assets.

Credentials

Education

  • University of Minnesota Law School (J.D., cum laude, 1998)
  • Marquette University (B.A., magna cum laude, 1995)

Bar Admissions

  • Minnesota
  • North Dakota

Recognitions

  • Selected among The Best Lawyers in America©, 2015-2025
  • Minnesota State Bar Association, "North Star Lawyers," 2023
  • Chambers High Net Worth Guide, "Leading Practitioner of Private Wealth Law," 2021-2024
  • Thomson Reuters, "Minnesota Super Lawyers," 2015-2024
    • "Top 50 Women," 2019-2021
    • "Minnesota Rising Star," 2006-2008, 2011-2012
  • Minnesota Monthly, "Minnesota's Top Lawyers," 2022
  • Dean’s Award for Outstanding Teaching, University of St. Thomas School of Law, 2013
  • AV® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rated from Martindale-Hubbell

Presentations

  • Co-presenter, "Inside the New Uniform Electronic Wills Act," Minnesota CLE 2023 Probate and Trust Law Section Conference, June 13, 2023
  • Co-presenter, "Minnesota's New Electronic Wills Act," Minnesota CLE Seminar, April 21, 2023
  • Co-presenter, "Conversations About Careers in the Law," University Missouri-Kansas City School of Law, March 1, 2023
  • Co-presenter, "Trustee Duties & Diligence: Tips for Driving Defensively in the Current Climate," North Dakota Bankers Association Tri-State Conference, April 28, 2020
  • Presenter, "On the Edges of Capacity – Implications for Estate Planning,"  Minnesota CLE January 2021; October 2020
  • Panelist and moderator, "State Taxation of Irrevocable Trusts," American Bar Association Conference, May 2019
  • Presenter, "Large Estates Panel: Flaunting Flexibility – Keeping Your Options Open In a Temporary World," MSBA Probate & Trust Law Section Conference, June 4, 2018
  • Presenter, "GST Tax for Trust Administrators," Red River Valley Estate Planning Council; Minnesota CLE, September 1, 2017
  • Presenter, "Disclaimers – Planning and Administration," Minnesota CLE, Hennepin County Bar Association, Minnesota CLE and MSBA’s 37th Annual Probate & Trust Law Section Conference, December 2016, June 2016, December 2011, June 2009
  • Presenter, "Navigating Fiduciary Duties for Family Offices," South Dakota Trust Company, May 1, 2014
  • Presenter, "Unwinding, Revising & Administering The Unwanted Irrevocable Trust Plan," American College of Trust & Estate Counsel, December 1, 2013
  • Presenter, "Selected Issues in Post-Mortem Planning," American Bar Association Real Property, Trust & Estate Section, September 1, 2013
  • Presenter, "Dynasty Trusts," American Bar Association Taxation Section, October 1, 2011
  • Presenter, "§ 674: Planning for Grantor Trusts," American Bar Association Section of Taxation, May 1, 2011
  • Presenter, "The Uses and Considerations of GRATs and QPRTs," American Bar Association Taxation Section, June 1, 2010
  • Presenter, "Fiduciary Litigation: The Best Defense is a Good Offense," Minnesota CLE and MSBA 36th Annual Probate & Trust Law Section Conference, June 1, 2010
  • Presenter, "Estate Planning for Business Owners," Ramsey County Bar Association, May 1, 2010

Professional Activities

  • American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC), Fellow
  • North Dakota State Bar Association
  • Hennepin County Bar Association
  • American Bar Association, Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section, Generation Skipping Transfer Tax Committee, Former Co-Chair, 2017-2019

Community Involvement

  • Normandale Community College Foundation, Board Member, Treasurer, 2016-2017
  • St. Therese Catholic Church of Deephaven, Sacristan, Usher, Greeter, Event Volunteer