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Practice Overview

I translate abstract concepts into practical tools for my clients to use in reaching their goals.  My clients and I come together to understand and refine their estate planning objectives for their families and themselves, and then to design sensible, lasting structures to meet those objectives now and long into the future. 

The laws underpinning what we do are often highly technical, but the animating principles are familiar and fundamentally human: motivations like care, love, and fear, as well as the desire for control, predictability and purpose.   I have carried into my legal career the same deep interest in people and their communities that led me to concentrate in social anthropology in college, and it continues to push me to best understand my clients and their needs.  Cold, esoteric tax and property laws are at the center of a lot of what we do, but the connections we grow with our clients are warm, personal and true.

Clients come to see me for an array of reasons.  Many relationships begin as we put in place an initial estate plan or make sense of an existing plan that has become unwieldy or out-of-date, and from there, grow along with client priorities.  I particularly enjoy working with my charitably minded clients to develop strategies and structures for giving, assisting families in planning for special needs of children with disabilities, supporting trust and estate administration as those questions arise, and first and foremost, thinking through the choices that will best support and empower future generations to live the lives my clients wish for them.  I encourage my clients to consider our relationship open and ongoing, so we can ensure the planning we undertake together remains in step with their evolving objectives and up-to-date with rapidly developing law.

Languages

English

Spanish

French (conversational)

Volunteer

American Bar Association, Real Property, Trust & Estate Law Section

• Member, Committee on Groups and Substantive Committees, 2023-present
• Member, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, 2021-present
• Vice-Chair, Art and Collectibles, 2023-present

Connecticut Bar Association

• Executive Committee of Estates and Probate Section, 2023-present
• Co-Editor-in-Chief, Estates and Probate Section Newsletter, 2023-present

Greenwich Historical Society Professional Advisory Council, 2019-present

Recognition

Best Lawyers in America "Ones to Watch", 2022 and 2023

American Bar Association, Real Property, Trust & Estate Law Section, TE Fellow, 2021-2023

Super Lawyers Rising Star for Connecticut, 2022-2023

Admissions

State of Connecticut, 2012

State of New York, 2014

State of New Jersey, 2013

Education

Harvard University, AB (Cum Laude), Social Anthropology and Visual & Environmental Studies

New York University School of Law, JD

New York University School of Law, LLM Tax

Memberships

American Bar Association, RPTE Section

Hispanic National Bar Association

Connecticut Bar Association

Connecticut Hispanic Bar Association

Contributions to the Field

Publications

• Co-Author, "A Primer on Planning with the Annual Exclusion," Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Journal, Fall/Winter 2023.
• Co-Author, "Estate Planning Considerations for Couples with a Non-Citizen Spouse," CBA Estates & Probate Section Newsletter, December 2023.
• Co-Author, “U.S. Administration of the Unplanned Foreign Estate,” Trusts and Estates, November 2023.
• Co-Author, "Summary of Proposed Legislation: The Connecticut Uniform Trust Decanting Act," CBA Estates & Probate Section Newsletter, February 2023.
• Co-author, "The Connecticut Parentage Act: A Preview for Estate Planners," Connecticut Bar Association, Estates & Probate Newsletter, September 2022.
• Co-author, "IRS Opines on the State Estate Tax Deduction Mismatch under Connecticut's Regime," Connecticut Bar Association, Estates & Probate Newsletter, December 2020.
• Co-author, "Income Taxation of Trusts in the US," Trust Quarterly Review (STEP), September 2019.
• Co-author, “US Supreme Court Declines to Hear Income Tax Position,” WealthManagement.com, July 2019.

Presentations

• "Maximizing Annual Exclusion Planning," NYSBA Trusts and Estates Law Section's 19^th Annual Sophisticated Trusts and Estates Law Institute, New York, New York, November 2023.
• "Administration of Non-Probate Assets," ABA Section of Real Property, Trust & Estate Law eCLE Webinar, May 2023. 
• "Annual Exclusion Planning with Grandchildren,” 35^th Annual RPTE National CLE Conference, Washington DC, May 2023.
• "Connecticut Parentage Act," Estates and Probate Section of the Connecticut Bar Association, May 2022.
• "The Parent Trap: The Uniform Parentage Act Demands Attention to Familial Relationships in Estate Planning,” 34^th Annual RPTE National CLE Conference, April 2022.
• "Family Office Trends: The New Vocabulary of the Next Generation and Your Annual Non-Tax Hot Topics,” 34^th Annual RPTE National CLE Conference, April 2022.
• "New Developments in Estate Planning Law," Law Library Association of St. Louis, February 2022.
• “Buy-Sell Agreements and Related Tax Issues for the Closely Held Business,” ABA RPTE CLE Webinar, March 2020.
• “Trusts 101,” NBI CLE Seminar, May 2019.