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David Pratt is a Partner in the Personal Planning Department and head of the Boca Raton office. His practice is dedicated exclusively to the areas of trusts and estates, estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer, and fiduciary and individual income taxation. He has extensive experience in estate planning, post-mortem tax planning and asset protection. He has been asked to serve as an expert witness on several occasions, and has been referred to as a “seasoned trusts and estates lawyer” in a Florida Third District Court of Appeals Opinion.

David’s clients consist predominantly of high net worth individuals and families. He regularly counsels his clients regarding how to transfer wealth from generation to generation with the least amount of tax and the maximum amount of asset protection at each generation, including protection for a divorcing child or grandchild and from potential creditors. While many of David’s clients are retired, he also represents a significant amount of business owners. He has recommended and implemented many plans which have transferred ownership of business interests to the next generation with minimal transfer tax cost and without disruption of the family business. Such plans very often include recommendations resulting from the family dynamics involved with a family business.

Clients often consult with David with respect to charitable giving. He has been involved with establishing many charitable remainder and lead trusts, and has also established many private foundations. David prepares many nuptial agreements, both prior to and during a marriage. He also is very often engaged by an individual who is in the process of obtaining a divorce in order to do “pre-divorce” planning. In addition, David represents many doctors and other professionals who need asset protection planning. Specifically, he has recommended many asset protection plans involving entities such as family limited partnerships, limited liability companies, irrevocable trusts, and a combination of these techniques. Many of David’s clients have significant retirement plans and he regularly advises clients on how to maximize the income tax deferral with respect to such plans.

David is Florida Board-Certified in both Taxation and Wills, Trusts and Estates. There are very few attorneys in the State of Florida who hold a dual certification. He was a certified public accountant with Arthur Andersen & Co. in New York City prior to attending law school. David had the privilege of serving as Chair of the Florida Bar’s Tax Section and in delivering testimony at the IRS hearings in Washington, D.C. regarding the Tax Section’s comments on the Proposed Regulations on Required Minimum Distributions from Retirement Plans. He also was one of the authors of comments submitted to the IRS by the Section in response to a controversial Revenue Procedure concerning charitable remainder trusts.

David also is a Fellow in the American College of Trust & Estate Counsel. He serves on the college's Board of Regents and Chairs the New Fellows Steering Committee. David was recently named the Best Lawyers’ 2011 Miami Area Trusts and Estates Lawyer of the Year.

David also is an adjunct professor at the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law, where he teaches in the LL.M. program. He also is a faculty member of the American Law Institute-American Bar Association, where he teaches a course on estate and gift taxation. He is a commentator on Leimberg Information Services Inc., a well known estate planning newsletter, circulated to many estate planning professionals across the country. He also has published various articles in legal journals, and lectures extensively to other lawyers, professionals, and laypersons.

David has been very active with his community through his affiliation with the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County. He is currently the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Jewish Community Foundation of the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County. He also is on the board of trustees of the Jewish Federations of North America and serves on the Planned Giving and Endowments Committee. David is a past Chair of the Professional Advisory Committee of both the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County and the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County. He is a member of the Jewish National Fund’s Legal Committee and the Executive Committee of Professional Advisers for the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties, and has served on many Planned Giving Committees of charitable organizations in Palm Beach County.

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