Office: New Haven

Since completing an LLM in Taxation from New York University in 1981, I have enjoyed assisting clients with making difficult choices concerning lifetime and testamentary transfers of their closely held businesses and personal wealth. In most instances, my clients have been successful in achieving family harmony, reducing estate and income taxes, reducing administrative costs and minimizing aggravation. My practice has grown from preparing wills, trusts and other estate planning strategies for business owners and retired individuals to guiding closely held business owners in the transition of ownership and management to their children or a younger generation of owners.

Estate and Business succession planning requires knowledge of many different areas of the law including corporate, estates and trusts, income, gift and estate taxes, and asset protection. I have worked with families who have transferred a business to a third generation and in some cases to a fourth generation of family members. Some of the tools used to transition a family business are: discount family limited partnerships and limited liability companies; intentionally defective grantor trusts; grantor retained annuity trusts; redemption agreements, spousal gifting trusts; irrevocable life insurance trusts; personal residence trusts and interest free loans.

My corporate practice involves the formation of business entities, buy/sell agreements, recapitalizations and retirement planning. My clients include owners of businesses in many different industries including manufacturing, construction, real estate, engineering and software development and sales.

My estate planning practice allows each individual to make their own judgments on how best to arrange the distribution or management of their assets in the event of death or disability. I am well-versed in the provisions of Medicaid and Title XIX asset protection strategies. I also represent an estate through the probate court process and have represented estates and trusts in audits before the Internal Revenue Service and the Connecticut Department of Revenue Services. I serve as Independent Trustee of several private trusts.

I believe that I have the rare ability to explain complex legal and tax provisions in simple, easy to understand language. Based on my 30 years of experience, I am able to suggest alternatives to achieve desired results. Reducing estate taxes to the maximum extent possible is not always the best course if the tax reduction plan would cause family relationships to suffer.

I authored a treatise known as Connecticut Estate Planning Wills and Trusts Manual for other lawyers and professionals published in 2005 by Data Trace Publishing Company. This legal treatise is a comprehensive work on Wills and Trust Planning under Connecticut and Federal Law and is updated annually. In addition to publishing my treatise I’ve written articles for various publications, including the Connecticut Law Tribune.

I am a member of the Estate and Probate Sections of the Connecticut Bar Association. I serve as Vice President of The Connection Fund, Inc., a large non-profit organization in Connecticut that provides housing and clinical assistance to those with mental illness or drug dependency.

I live in Orange, Connecticut with wife, Cindy, and have three children. I enjoy outdoor sports such as fishing and hiking. I am secretary of the Connecticut Surfcasters Association and enjoy surf fishing trips to Martha’s Vineyard, Montauk, Block Island and Cuttyhunk Island.

Education:

• State University of New York at Binghamton, B.S., 1976
• Washington University, J.D., 1979
• New York University, LL.M. in Taxation, 1981