Christopher Hoyt is a Professor of Law at the University of Missouri (Kansas City) School of Law where he teaches courses in the area of federal income taxation, particularly retirement plans and tax-exempt organizations. Previously, he was with the law firm of Spencer, Fane, Britt & Browne in Kansas City, Missouri. He received an undergraduate degree in economics from Northwestern University and he received dual law and accounting degrees from the University of Wisconsin.

Professor Hoyt is currently the Chair of the American Bar Association's Committee on Legislation and Regulations (part of the Charitable Group of the ABA Section of Real Property, Trusts and Estates). He is the author of the Legal Compendium for Community Foundations, published by the Council on Foundations, which for many years served as the principal legal resource for the nation's community foundations. He also serves on the editorial board of Trusts and Estate magazine and acts as a contributing editor on articles pertaining to estate planning for retirement assets.

His more recent scholarship has been in areas where two disparate bodies of law interact. He is best known for his research to overcome the legal challenges triggered by a charitable gift or bequest of retirement assets. What steps should be taken to obtain the best outcome in light of the obstacles posed first by the retirement plan laws and then by the charitable giving laws? Similarly his recent articles in the ACTEC Law Journal demonstrated the challenges, solutions and strategies for making charitable gifts of S corporation stock and avoiding the legal traps that could arise under either the S corporation laws or the charitable giving laws.

Professor Hoyt is an ACTEC fellow and has been voted by his peers as a "Best Lawyer." He is a frequent speaker at legal and educational programs and has been quoted in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, MONEY Magazine, The New York Times and The Washington Post.