Margaret Sager

Biography

Margaret E.W. Sager’s practice includes estate planning for high-net worth individuals, trust and estate administration, fiduciary litigation and related dispute resolution, guardianships of incapacitated persons and charitable giving. In addition to her active fiduciary litigation practice, Margaret acts as a mediator and arbitrator to help other parties and their counsel resolve disputes privately, and without the cost and delay often associated with the judicial process.

Margaret is a frequent speaker on a variety of topics involving estates and trusts, including, most recently, trust modification and change of trust situs, fiduciary litigation, alternative dispute resolution (mediation and arbitration), the compensation of attorneys and fiduciaries, total return trusts, guardianships of incapacitated persons and donor charitable intent. She speaks at professional association meetings, women’s groups, bar association events and universities including: the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (“ACTEC”), the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania Executive Education Program, Cannon Financial Institute’s Estate Planning Teleconference Series, the Cambridge Forums and Pennsylvania Bar Institute programs.

Margaret is the author of a number of publications, including, “Attorneys’ Fees, Fiduciary Commissions and Costs,” and “Guardianships of Incapacitated Persons,” both of which are leading compendiums in Pennsylvania for those areas of law.

Margaret is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and serves or has served on many of the College’s committees.

She is recognized as a Super Lawyer. Since 2005 Margaret has been named a Top 50
Women Pennsylvania Super Lawyer and in 2022 she was also recognized as a Top 100 Philadelphia Super Lawyer. Margaret is recognized by Chambers and Partners in their High Net Worth Guide as a Band 1 Leader in the Field in Private Wealth Law in Pennsylvania. She is listed as one of the leading trust and estate attorneys by Best Lawyers in America, and was recognized by Best Lawyers as a Lawyer of the Year in 2014. Margaret is AV® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rated by Martindale Hubbell.

Margaret is a member of the Philadelphia Bar Association, the Pennsylvania Bar Association, and the Philadelphia Estate Planning Council, which recognized her as the Council’s Estate Planner of the Year in 2022. She is also a member of the Weeders Garden Club.

Education

University of Virginia School of Law School, J.D., (1985)
• Hardy Cross Dillard Fellow, 1983-84, 1984-85

University of Richmond, B.A., summa cum laude (1982)
• Phi Beta Kappa and Omicron Delta Kappa Honor Societies
• Harry S. Truman Scholar (representative of New York State), 1980-84