Estate Planning

Clients with challenging tax, estate planning, business, probate and probate litigation matters.

Bankruptcy

Clients with challenging tax, estate planning, business, probate and probate litigation matters.

CA, Jun 1973
Bar Number: 55729

1970, Illinois; 1973, California, U.S. District Court, Central District of California and U.S. Tax Court

State Bar of California

I attend any seminar I believe will improve my ability to solve my client's problems. This usually means I accrue approximately 200% of the hours required under State Bar rules.

I recently filed a successful application for the abatement of interest and penalties in a tax shelter case dating from 1983-84. This was the first such application ever accepted by the Internal Revenue Service and resulted in a savings to the client in excess of $350,000.


I also handled a successful probate litigation involving the recovery of in excess of $6 million for the estate of a woman who had been the victim of financial elder abuse.

6

California, Illinois

Our focus is responsiveness, results and value. Those are the legal services that we have been providing our clients since 1983. Whether we are drafting your contracts, planning your estate or litigating on your behalf, we use proven and established technologies to keep you constantly informed and obtain cost-effective results. Your correspondence, pleadings and other documents are optically scanned and organized so that they can be instantaneously accessed, and immediately delivered to anywhere in the world by e-mail or CD-Rom. We also maintain an extensive library of computerized forms, pleadings and legal research to quickly respond to your inquiries and legal emergencies.

Our business clients include entertainers, inventors, entrepreneurs, professionals, executives and commercial enterprises ranging from closely held family businesses to multi-national corporations listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The lawyers at Hicks, MIms Kaplan & Burns have negotiated, drafted and advised their clients of their rights and obligations regarding some of the most valuable intellectual properties of the entertainment industry.

In addition to representing clients in business disputes and lawsuits, we also represent individuals that have suffered serious bodily injuries; elders that have been physically or financially abused; and individuals, fiduciaries and charitable organizations that are involved in Will and trust contests.

I have practiced primarily in private law firms but served as tax counsel for The Signal Companies and Northrop Corporation over a period of 6 years. I founded what is now Hicks, Mims, Kaplan & Burns with three other partners in 1994. I am the firm's managing partner.

I have served as an instructor of Estate Planning at Santa Monica College for over 10 years and have been a member of the board of trustees at Los Angeles Ronald McDonald House for over 8 years. I am a former instructor at the Golden Gate University and University of Southern California Masters in Taxation programs.

Michael Puccinelli

(310) 314-1725

Monday through Friday
9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
After hours as necessary.

Yes

Spanish (Staff)

Laguna Niguel, CA
28202 Cabot Road
3rd Floor
Laguna Niguel, CA 92677
(949) 340-9737

Estate planning and transactional matters may involve flat fees ranging from $2,000 to $4,000 plus hourly charges for conferences, special projects and substantive phone calls.

My hourly rate is $300 to $350 depending upon the nature of the case.

The initial consultation is free of charge if we are not retained. If retained, it is billed in accordance with the Fee Agreement with the client.

$2,000 to $10,000