Ric is a board-certified expert in wills, trusts, and estates
Ric specializes in counseling high net worth individuals, families, and business owners regarding intergenerational wealth transfers and business succession matters. Ric has substantial experience with sophisticated estate planning techniques and business succession involving leveraging of exemptions, valuation discounting, and business structuring. He also represents fiduciaries in administrating complex estates and trusts. Ric’s clients regularly call on him to provide the legal insight and overall framework to efficiently integrate advice from out-of-state attorneys, financial advisors, accountants, and other professionals.
Additionally, Ric serves as governing board chairman of the Patterson Foundation—one of Florida’s largest and most progressive foundations, and has significant experience working with generous families to structure, establish, and fund private foundations, maximizing charitable deductions while achieving their individualized philanthropic goals.
Ric was previously employed as a CPA with PriceWaterhouse (now known as PwC), and as an attorney with Squire Sanders & Dempsey (now known as Squire Patton Boggs). He is a frequent lecturer on the legal aspects of estate planning and co-authored the BNA Tax Management Estate and Gift Tax Returns and Audits Portfolio 822. He has served as a regular guest lecturer for Steven Forbes of Forbes Magazine, the American College of Surgeons, and the Florida Bar.
MATTERS
- Extensive complex estate planning for individuals and families, some with assets approaching $1 billion involving complex techniques such as: FLP, GRAT, IDGT, QPRT, SLAT, CRAT, CRUT, ILIT, CLAT, CLUT, and GST Dynasty Trusts
- General counsel to several $100 million-plus entrepreneurs and their organizations
- General counsel to $100 million-plus charitable foundations
- Legal counsel for large and highly complex estate involving over 100 business entities; successfully negotiated a zero tax change under audit legal counsel for $400 million-plus complex estate predominantly comprised of business assets and post-death business and tax restructuring of the same
- Extensive audit experience in serving as counsel representing estate and gift tax challenges and disputes including complex business valuations, FLPs, and other complex tax issues
- Tax and estate counsel in the preparation of Private Letter Rulings for complex estate and gift tax matters
- Co-counsel on complex trust, estate, and probate litigation matters
COMMUNITY
- Patterson Foundation, Chairman of the Board
- John F. Cuneo, Jr. Foundation, Board Member
- American Heart Association, Past President
- Strauss Donor-Advised Fund, Advisor
- Family Counseling Center, Past President
- Catholic Charities Foundation, Board Member Emeritus
ACCOLADES
- Martindale-Hubbell, AV Preeminent
- Best Lawyers 2019 Lawyer of the Year
- Best Lawyers in America
- Florida Super Lawyers, 2011-2023
- Florida Trend’s Legal Elite