Gina L. Lera

Partner

621 Capitol Mall
18th Floor
Sacramento, CA 95814

Areas of Law:

Trusts and Estates, Estate and Gift Taxes, Trusts and Estates Litigation

Admitted to Practice in:

California

Gina L. Lera is a member of Downey Brand's Trust and Estate practice group and is a Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization.

Gina is recognized as a leading authority in wealth planning, representing individuals in all areas of basic and advanced estate planning. Her expertise includes wills, trusts, powers of attorney, simple and sophisticated irrevocable trusts, entity formation, and charitable planning. Gina is also well versed in all related estate, gift, generation skipping, and income tax planning issues as well as specialized high net worth planning.

She has assisted many owners of closely held family businesses with succession and generational planning, and is an active advisor to the Capital Region Family Business Center. She frequently lectures for many professional groups consisting of attorneys, CPAs, financial planners, and other estate planning professionals, as well as the Continuing Education of the Bar (CEB), the California State Bar Taxation Section, the California Society of Certified Public Accounts, the Certified Financial Planning Association, and the Legal Secretaries Association. She is frequently consulted as an expert on complex estate, gift, generation skipping and income tax issues. Gina teaches a ten week estate planning course for the Certified Financial Planning Program for the University of California, Davis (Extension) and is an Adjunct Professor in Estate and Gift Tax/Estate Planning at the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law.

Gina is also an expert in all areas of estate and trust administration, including probates, summary probate procedures, other probate court proceedings relating to estates and trusts, property allocation agreements, fiduciary and beneficiary representation, accountings, qualified disclaimers, generation skipping transfer tax, guardianships, conservatorships, special needs trusts with related court proceedings, insolvent estates, preparation and review of estate and gift tax returns and audit representation.

Additionally, Gina incorporates estate and trust litigation into her practice, including will and trust contests, contested Probate Code 17200 petitions, beneficiary/trustee disputes, accounting issues, settlement agreements, discovery, and other contested probate proceedings. She frequently serves as a mediator in complex trust and estate litigation matters.

Gina is a current member of the Executive Committee of the Trusts and Estates Section of the State Bar of California. She is also a past chair of the State Bar of California, Taxation Section, Estate and Gift Tax Sub-Committee, as well as a member and former chair of the Sacramento County Bar Association, Estate Planning and Probate Section. She is an active member in the Sacramento Estate Planning Council and serves on its Board of Directors.

EXPERIENCE

Practice includes all areas of basic and advanced estate planning, including wills, trusts, powers of attorney, simple and sophisticated irrevocable trusts, entity formation, business succession planning and charitable planning, including all related estate, gift and income tax planning issues and specialized high net worth planning.

Practice also includes all areas of estate and trust administration, including probates, summary probate procedures, other probate court proceedings relating to estate and trusts, property allocation agreements, fiduciary and beneficiary representation, accountings, qualified disclaimers, guardianships, conservatorships, special needs trusts with related court proceedings, marital agreements, spousal property characterization, preparation and review of estate and gift tax returns and audit representation.

Practice also includes estate and trust litigation, including will and trust contests, contested Probate Code 17200 petitions, beneficiary/trustee disputes, accounting issues, settlement agreements, discovery, mediation and other contested probate proceedings.

MEMBERSHIPS

State Bar of California, Trusts and Estates Section, Member ; Executive Committee, Appointee

State Bar of California, Taxation Section, Estate and Gift Tax Sub-Committee, Former Chair

Sacramento County Bar Association, Estate Planning and Probate Section, Member; Former Chair, Vice Chair, Treasurer and Secretary

Sacramento Estate Planning Council, Past Board Member and Current Treasurer (Officer)

Stockton Estate Planning Council, Member

EDUCATION

University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law (J.D., With Distinction, 1995)
California State University, Sacramento (B.A., 1992)

PRESENTATIONS

University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law (Estate and Gift Tax/Estate Planning), Adjunct Professor

Certified Financial Planning Program (Estate Planning), University of California, Davis, Instructor

State Bar of California, Taxation Section, Speaker

Continuing Education of the Bar, Speaker

California Society of Certified Public Accountants, Speaker

Certified Financial Planning Association, Speaker

Legal Secretaries Association, Speaker

CPA Law Forum, Speaker

AWARDS

Honored for excellence in teaching and outstanding service to continuing education by UC Davis Extension, University of California