Practice
Focus
Practice focuses on all aspects of estates and wealth transfer, including
transfer planning, estate administration and estate dispute and fiduciary
litigation.
Provides a wide range of tax planning and advice for businesses, individuals
and fiduciaries in operational business matters of all kinds, including:
• Estate
planning for individuals and business succession planning
•
Estate administration for trusts and decedents’ estates
• Litigation involving disputed estates
Experienced in commercial real estate transactions, including representation
as lender and borrower counsel in business financial transactions.
Representative Experience
Taxation and Estate/Wealth Transfer Planning: experienced in all phases
of tax planning and wealth transfer, specifically:
• Advises
and assists clients and their other financial advisors with estates
of
all sizes in planning for tax minimized transactions
• Represents clients before the Internal Revenue Service in tax audits
and disputes
• Assists clients in planning to preserve, use and ultimately to transfer
assets to intended beneficiaries while minimizing transfer taxes and
avoiding probate when appropriate, including business succession planning
• Assists high net worth individuals in leveraging transfer tax exemptions
for the benefit of their family units, including charitable gifting planning
for interested individuals
• Represents estate fiduciaries and beneficiaries in facilitating probate
and trust administration and in accomplishing post death tax planning
to minimize estate taxes, including planning for proper preparation and
reporting of transactions and assets in gift and estate tax returns
Estate Dispute Resolution and Litigation Represents fiduciaries and beneficiaries in estate and trust disputes
by and among beneficiaries in a variety of issues that arise in the administration
of estates and trusts and in determining the proper beneficiaries of
the assets. Cases have included:
• Represented minor son of decedent in trial court in action by
fourth wife to set aside decedent’s will and on appeal by widow
•
Represented husband of decedent in trial court in action to remove wife’s
brother as trustee of a business trust established by decedent’s
mother and to establish client’s right in the trust that operated
multi-million dollar business, and on appeal by brother
• Represented bank as trustee of several trusts in which disputes arose
with or among beneficiaries of the trusts
•
Represented adult children of decedent in actions to establish their
rights against claims and actions by father’s widow
•
Represented widow of decedent against children from husband’s prior
marriages in actions to determine proper will of decedent and to determine
widow’s “augmented estate” elective share
• Represented adult son in contested action to establish proper guardian
of elderly parent whose physical and mental condition had become severely
deteriorated while under control of another adult child
•
Represented attorneys-in-fact for elderly client in actions to recover
over two million dollars from “charitable” organization to
which the client had “loaned” the funds while not competent
during a manic episode
• Represented various fiduciaries of estates and trusts in the administration
of assets to anticipate and avoid possible claims
Business Representation
Represents a variety of businesses and professional and civic involvement
associations in dealing with legal matters and issues that arise in the
operation of the business, including contract negotiation and preparation,
employment issues, employee benefits and agreements among owners.
Education and Background
• J.D
(with honors), George Washington University National Law Center (1975)
• B.A. (with honors), Wheaton College
Bar/Court Admissions
• Virginia
(1975)
• District of Columbia Court of Appeals (1976)
• U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (1976)
• U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (1978)
• U.S. Tax Court (1980)
Professional and Civic Involvement
• Member,
Virginia State Bar Association
• Member, Fairfax Bar Association
• Member, District of Columbia Bar Association
• Adjunct Instructor, George Washington University Paralegal Program (1978-1983)
• Member, Fairfax County, Virginia, Architecture Review Board for Historic
Districts (1992-present) |
