Wills, Trusts & Estates

I prefer to work with clients who want to provide the best estate planning for themselves and their families, so that they are sure their loved ones are taken care of. Many times my clients are also concerned about paying for their children's or their grandchildren's education and also want to save tax dollars.

• Estate Taxes & Gift Taxes
• Negotiating IRS Payments & Settlements
• Power of Attorney
• Tax Planning

• Charitable Giving
• Charitable Trusts
• Drafting Trusts
• Drafting Wills
• Estate Administration
• Estate Planning
• Living Trusts
• Living Wills
• Probate
• Business Succession Planning
• Revocable Trust & Irrevocable Trust

CA, Jun 1977
Bar Number: 74181

Estate Planning & Probate Law.

All California Courts;
All Colorado Courts;
U.S. District Court.

• Silicon Valley Bar Association
• Palo Alto Area Bar Association
• California State Bar Trusts & Estates Section.

I complete over 100 hours of continuing legal education classes each year, which is well over the required minimum number of hours.

My recent continuing education classes have included:
• 30 classroom hours – Multinational Estate Planning. This course considered the major tax and non-tax issues in the planning and administration of estates of:
• foreign-based U.S. citizens
• resident aliens
• U.S. citizens with foreign assets
• U.S. citizens and resident aliens with non-citizen spouses (including the use of qualified domestic trusts [QDT/QDOT])
• Non-Resident Aliens (“NRAs”) with property or relationships in the United States.

In addition, this course reviewed those provisions of the Internal Revenue Code and Regulations dealing with the estate, gift, and income taxation of non-resident aliens, the income taxation of non-resident aliens, the taxation of foreign trusts and beneficiaries, expatriation by U.S. citizens, and the estate tax foreign tax credit. It examined the nature and uses of the network of estate, gift and income tax treaties with the major countries of the world.

• 45 classroom hours – Probate Procedures & Litigation.
• 45 classroom hours – Federal Tax Procedure. This course provided an overview of federal tax procedures, including Internal Revenue Service practices and policies and the correlative rights and privileges of the taxpayer. Coverage includes the regulatory process, the audit and administrative appeals process, choice of litigation forum, and assessment and collection practices.
• 30 classroom hours – Advanced Estate Planning. This course provided a comprehensive and detailed look into advanced estate planning issues such as charitable organizations, valuation discounts, domestic partnerships, family limited partnerships, guardianships and conservatorships, trust and estate litigation, representing high net worth clients, and irrevocable trusts.

I deal with cases that range from what would be considered "straightforward" to those that have unique issues. As a result of working in this full spectrum, I feel prepared to deal with all types of clients and their individual situations.

One of my most interesting cases involved representing one of Albert Einstein's (yes, that one) heirs in a dispute over the "Einstein Family Correspondence Trust," which included the love letters that Einstein wrote to his first wife, Mileva Maric.

Some other examples have included:
1) NC and EC are citizens of Mexico. Because they are “non-resident aliens”, their estate tax exemption is only $60,000 each. They purchased a $3.5 million residence in Atherton, which they want to transfer to their grandchildren. Worked with them to transfer the residence in an estate tax-efficient manner that will save them over $500,000 in estate tax under the present tax laws using irrevocable generation-skipping (GST) trusts.

2) MN and LN own several real estate investments, a ranch worth over $2MM, a primary residence worth over $6MM, a second residence worth over $1.5MM, and a stock portfolio worth over $8MM. Worked with them to structure dynasty trusts for their grandchildren, LLCs for their real estate investments, and to establish a qualified personal residence trust for their second residence.

3) DZ is an 85 year old widower who owns a home worth approximately $1,400,000 (fully paid for). He also has an investment portfolio worth approximately $500,000. He wants to stay in his home unless/until he becomes a danger to himself or others. His children, on the other hand, want him to go into a nursing home because it would be less expensive than round-the-clock care – they are concerned that he is spending their inheritance. Structured an arrangement with an independent, private fiduciary to ensure that his children will not be in charge of his money and that he should be able to live out his remaining years in peace in the home that he loves.

4) DM is a 94 year old widow who owns a home worth approximately $3,000,000; commercial buildings worth approximately $2MM, and a stock portfolio worth approximately $2.5MM. She is worried about outliving her assets. Structured a sale of the commercial buildings to her children using sophisticated “fractional share discount” techniques to save estate and gift taxes (and to preserve the low property tax basis for the children) through the use of a family limited partnership and created an LLC for the stock portfolio. Instituted a gifting program to transfer interests in the LLC to her children and grandchildren while making sure that she would have plenty to live on.

5) VC and MC are in their 30s and have a young child. Their estate is worth less than $2,000,000. Most of their family members reside in Hong Kong, but they want their daughter to be raised in the United States. Helped them determine who would be appropriate guardians for their children (they plan to have more) and to make sure that their money will be used to provide for their children’s college educations.

6) CAJ is a 63 year old woman who has no children. She owns several commercial buildings, a condominium and a stock portfolio worth a total of $6MM. In addition, she inherited approximately $4MM (after tax) from her father, HJ, when he died last year at age 95. Before HJ died, I worked with him to place CAJ’s inheritance into an irrevocable trust. She is the beneficiary of that trust, but it will not become part of her estate at her death. She has the right to all of the income from HJ’s trust and as much of the principal as she needs to meet her needs. Because HJ’s trust assets will not become part of CAJ’s estate, we were able to achieve estate tax savings of more than $1,800,000 under present tax laws.

1

California, Colorado

Estate planning, probate and tax are the only areas in which I practice. My firm consists of two assistants and me. I began my firm in 1991 after having practiced corporate law with a number of large corporations. I have been practicing exclusively in the estate planning and probate area since approximately 1992 and have been certified as an Estate Planning and Probate Law Specialist by the California State Bar Board of Legal Specialization since 1996.

I began working at 16 and worked 20 to 30 hours per week to pay for my own college and law school education. My jobs ranged from working on an assembly line to working as a secretary in an early venture capital-type firm to working as a law clerk in a small Denver law firm and as a research clerk for two Denver District Court judges.

1975 - 1979. Member of the Legal Staff, Hewlett-Packard Company. Duties included counseling the management of various operating divisions and sales regions.

1979 - 1983. General Counsel, Hills Bros. Coffee, Inc. Established and directed the legal department of this $400 million privately-held company. Duties included directing outside counsel in a Robinson-Patman Act (antitrust) case which the Department of Justice had filed against two of the Company's major competitors; supervising outside counsel to restructure the Company's debt; and negotiating a $60 million credit agreement with a consortium of banks.

1983 - 1985. General Counsel, Corvus Systems. Directed the legal activities of this $55 million publicly-held manufacturer of local area networks and computer peripherals. Duties included ensuring compliance with all securities law matters; preparing the Company's 10Ks and 10Qs; and counseling the company's officers and directors on compliance with Rules 144, 10b-5, and 16(b).

1985 - 1986. Vice President - Legal, Greenbrier Capital Corporation. Directed the legal activities of this tax shelter syndication and management firm. Firm ceased its syndication activities in August 1986 as a result of the 1986 Tax Reform Act. Duties included negotiating several multi-million dollar loans with major financial entities to finance the Company's limited partnership offerings; drafting various "Regulation D" offering memoranda; and preparing a supplement on SEC Form S-1 for a public limited partnership offering.

1986 - 1989. General Counsel, Telebit Corporation. Directed the worldwide legal and administrative activities of this $25 million privately-held data communications corporation.

1989 - 1991. Associate at a San Francisco estate and tax planning law firm. Experience included preparing tax-sensitive estate plans for high-net-worth clients; probates; and preparation of estate tax returns.

1991 - present. Self-employed.

1998 - 2006. UC Santa Cruz Extension - Lecturer, Estate and Tax Planning course (Certificate in Financial Planning Program).

Listed in 2007, 2008, and 2009 editions of Northern California Super Lawyers. Together with my husband, volunteered with the "Friends for Youth" mentoring program and at Eastside College Prep High School (East Palo Alto). Appointed to the Executive Committee of the California State Bar Solo and Small Firm Section (term runs from 9/2009 to 9/2012).

Cheryl Nelson

(650) 325-8296

Monday through Friday,
9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Evenings and weekends by appointment.

Yes

Spanish

I utilize what I refer to as a modified fixed-price schedule. My model assumes that there will be an initial consultation of 30 to 60 minutes; a "design meeting" of 1.5 to 3 hours; a "review meeting" of 1 to 2 hours; and a "signing meeting" of approximately 1 hour.

If my clients require additional meetings, I reserve the right to charge hourly for those meetings.

A typical estate planning engagement includes preparation of a will, a revocable living trust, a durable power of attorney for financial matters, and an Advance Health Care Directive; if a client is married, then I would prepare wills and durable powers of attorney for both the husband and wife.

My typical estate planning fees for a single individual range from $1,600 for a simple estate to $4,000 for a complex estate; for a married couple my typical fees range from $2,200 to $5,000.

Unlike many estate planning attorneys, my typical fee includes funding more than just the client's personal residence; it usually includes funding brokerage accounts, additional real estate, changing beneficiaries on life insurance policies, and changing beneficiaries on retirement accounts.

Various factors will cause my fees to increase - for example, if one of the clients is not a U.S. citizen, it may be necessary to establish a "qualified domestic trust;" if clients want their children to be protected from creditors and predators, it might be necessary to include more complex trust provisions in their plan; and so on.

$375.

$250 for a 45-minute initial consultation. This fee becomes part of the fixed price if I am retained to prepare the estate plan.

One-half of the estimated fees, with the balance due when the draft documents are ready.