CARLSON ESTATE PLANNING - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Principal
- Partner at the Downtown Minneapolis
It has always been Clayton's firm belief that people, their relationships and their families form the basis for any successful legacy, estate and wealth preservation planning. Clayton Chan works closely with his clients to reach their financial, family, emotional and tax driven goals. He prides himself in providing the highest level of personal attention to each of his clients to provide comprehensive and highly customized estate plans for both individuals and families. Clayton's clients often refer to his wise counsel, strong judgement, compassion, technical competence and discreet handling of any sensitive family matters.
Clayton has represented clients across a wide array of different backgrounds - including retirees and young couples just starting out on their financial journeys, all the way up to Fortune 500 senior corporate executives and ultra high net worth closely-held business owners in diverse industries, as well as large farm owners. Clayton and his team also have extensive experience in probate and trust administration and has authored a number of authoritative national manuals and treatises focused on estate planning, wills, trusts and different processes surrounding business succession planning.
Clayton Chan was previously a partner at the downtown Minneapolis law firms of Lindquist & Vennum, PLLP, Winthrop & Weinstine, P.A., Moss & Barnett, P.A., and chair of the estate planning department of the Minneapolis office of the national law firm of Stoel Rives, PLLP.
Clayton provides his clients with a wide array of trust, probate and estate matters through both basic and sophisticated estate planning techniques, wealth preservation and asset protection planning strategies as well as sound charitable planning counsel. Clayton also has extensive experience in conducting multi-generational family planning meetings and coordinating with numerous tax and financial advisors. Clayton has deep experience in the following areas:
Core estate planning, involving the implementation of revocable trusts, wills, standby custodian documents and health care directives
A variety of sophisticated approaches to advanced and complex estate and gift tax planning
Business succession and agricultural/farm succession planning, including the coordinated use of trusts, special trust boards to manage business assets, buy-sell and shareholder agreements, and insurance planning with irrevocable life insurance trusts ("ILITs")
Planning for highly-compensated Fortune 500 corporate executives, including executive compensation assets, non-qualified stock options, and performance stock options
The design and implementation of multi-generational cabin trusts and farm trusts
Sophisticated techniques to reduce estate taxes, including the use of spousal lifetime access trusts ("SLATs"), irrevocable gifting trusts, generation-skipping transfer trusts ("GST trusts"), grantor retained annuity trusts ("GRATs"), and qualified personal residence trusts ("QPRTs")
International estate planning, including coordinated planning for clients with interests in Asia, Europe, and South America
Multi-generational business planning, including working with blended families and families with sensitive and complex relationship and financial issues
The use of family limited partnerships ("FLPs") and LLCs, along with valuation discount planning
Wealth preservation and asset protection planning, with the use of trusts and other entities
Charitable planning, including charitable trusts (such as "CRTs" and "CLTs") and setting up and implementing private foundations
Complex estate, trust, and probate administration, including complex federal and state estate tax returns
Representing corporate fiduciaries on a wide range of matters and issues
Representing clients in IRS audits and the preparation of IRS private letter ruling requests
Trust litigation matters
Elder law
Disability planning
Preparation of prenuptial and postnuptial agreements
Pre-marital estate planning
Pre and post-divorce planning
Preparation of supplemental needs trusts
Preparation of settlement trust agreements in personal injury cases
Job Titles:
- Independent Contractor
- Certified Paralegal
- Paralegal
Jane is an independent contractor paralegal with her own practice, who assists Carlson State Planning from time to time with estate and probate projects. With over 25 years as a paralegal working with families on estate and trust administrations, Jane K. Schmidt has developed an eye for problem-solving complicated legal issues. She approaches her work with empathy, discipline and believes that assisting families through difficult times is a truly rewarding experience.
Jane is a certified paralegal, a member of the Minnesota Paralegal Association and an active mentor in her paralegal community. Outside of work, she treasures spending time with her daughter, family and friends. Jane also enjoys her advocacy work in disability community.
Jeff assists clients by preparing a variety of trusts, wills, health care directives, powers of attorney, and standby custodian documents, among other estate planning tools. .
Prior to joining Chan, PLLC Law Offices, Jeff Lin was previously an attorney with the downtown Minneapolis law firm of Moss & Barnett, P.A., where he specialized in the complex financial aspects of electric utility rate cases, notably for client Xcel Energy. His work experience include capital structure and return on equity (ROE), accounting treatment and cost recovery of expenses, tax treatment of stand alone versus consolidated tax structures, and numerous regulatory filings.
In his solo practice, Jeff specialized in civil litigation, having case experience in lawsuits for breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, defamation, divorce, and probate litigation.
Jeff has the range of experience to advise individuals and companies, both large and small, on their legal strategy, and the available legal options to achieve their goals.
Jeff brings a personal touch to his legal practice these days, preferring to work with clients who want a dedicated attorney who will find creative solutions to their legal matters.
Prior to his legal work, Jeff was also a tax accountant with Arthur Andersen, an audit accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers, a financial analyst with startup Metamarkets.com, and a senior financial analyst with Oracle Corporation.
Jeff is an avid traveler and photographer. He has traveled to over 53 countries, including most of Europe and Asia.
Jeff speaks fluent English and Mandarin Chinese, as well as conversational Russian.
Justin is a litigator who practices at the law firm of KluzEvans LLC and helps his clients navigate issues that may lead to, or have resulted in, litigation. Chan, PLLC works closely with Justin when disputes arise during the estate planning process that may require court intervention or litigation.
Justin prides himself on his ability to work closely with his clients to develop goal-oriented litigation strategies and on executing those strategies to achieve the best outcome in the most cost-effective way.
Justin has extensive experience helping his clients resolve their litigation matters, including trust and estate matters, commercial and business disputes, insurance coverage matters, employment law, and a wide variety of other civil litigation issues.
Justin strongly believes that great attorney-client partnerships lead to great outcomes in litigation. Accordingly, he strives to develop a keen understanding of his clients' wants, needs, and goals so his clients can rest easy knowing they have an advocate on their side who is as invested as they are.
Job Titles:
- Paralegal
- Planning Paralegal
Kate Olson is an estate planning paralegal with over 10 years of experience working in the areas of estate planning and family law. Kate truly enjoys working as part of a close knit collaborative team to assist clients through the estate planning process.
Having a background in Family Law gives Kate a deep understanding of family dynamics. Kate enjoys interacting with clients and finds satisfaction in knowing she can help families care for their loved ones and give them peace of mind by ensuring their estate plan properly meets their specific needs. Kate especially enjoys the relationships built with clients over many months and years of working together on planning. Kate holds a B.A. in English Composition from a Chicago area University which has served her well over many years of legal work.
Kate is best known for her technical aptitude, calm demeanor, and organizational skills. When she is not working, Kate enjoys spending time exploring Minnesota on day-trips with her husband and two young kids, gardening (albeit at a novice level), cooking meals inspired by online recipe perusing and volunteering weekly at her local food shelf. She also loves reading psychological thrillers and memoirs.
Kevin concentrates his practice in the areas of estate planning and business law. He is a member of the Probate & Trust Law and Elder Law sections of the Minnesota State Bar Association and has extensive experience representing clients in all areas of estate planning, including:
Preparation of both will and trust-based plans
Estate tax planning
Probate matters and trust administration
Elder law matters
Business succession planning
After more than 30 years practicing law, Kevin retired in July 2018. He left Carlson Estate Planning in the capable hands of Clayton W. Chan, Esq., confident that Clayton will continue to serve both new and existing clients with close attention and care.
Lori Wyatt works within Carlson Estate Planning as a part-time legal administrative assistant, fulfilling a goal of working in the law field and utilizing the paralegal degree she received 26 years ago - life has come full circle! Recently retired from a 25 year administrative/office assistant position within the Eden Prairie school district, Lori brings those years of office experience to our firm with strengths in organization, record keeping and team collaboration. Lori has a can-do attitude and jumps right in.
When Lori is not working, you will find her spending time with her family and two "adorable" grandchildren and sweet dog, McNally. Baking cookies with granddaughter Olivia and going to the beach in the summer are two of Lori's most favorite simple pleasures. Lori stays active socially, physically, and mentally and has fun doing it all!
With offices in both Minnesota and Florida, Ms. Roberts practices in the areas of tax, estate planning and business law. She is the owner and sole practitioner at her own law firm, Flagship Law, with offices in Tampa, FL and Edina, MN. Ms. Roberts obtained her LL.M. in Taxation in 2016 from the University of Florida College of Law Graduate Tax Program.
By crafting individually designed estate plans, Ms. Roberts helps her clients achieve their wishes regarding who will receive their property, when it will be received, and under what circumstances. She counsels her clients concerning incapacity planning, including trusts, wills, durable powers of attorney, and medical directives. She also advises clients with regard to post-divorce and pre-marital planning. With an awareness that estate planning is a highly personal process, Ms. Roberts develops warm and lasting relationships with her clients.
For high-net-worth clients, Ms. Roberts examines all strategies to achieve paramount asset preservation, state and federal estate and income tax minimization, and business succession planning. She creates irrevocable trusts such as Spousal Lifetime Access Trusts, Charitable Lead and Remainder Trusts, and both Grantor and Non-grantor Trusts, using various techniques to assist clients in minimizing taxes while transferring wealth responsibly to the next generation.
A member of many Tampa organizations, Ms. Roberts is involved with Leadership Tampa Class of 2018; Leadership Tampa Alumni; Tampa Chamber of Commerce, Women of Influence and Programming Committees; USF Women in Leadership and Philanthropy; Estate Planning Council of Tampa Bay; Economic Club of Tampa; The Florida Bar (Securities, RPPTL and Tax Sections); and the Hillsborough County Bar Association.
Ms. Roberts is building her Minnesota practice, and already belongs to many local organizations, including the Minnesota State Bar Association: Tax, Probate and Estate Planning Sections; the Financial Planning Association; the FPA Professional Issues Committee; the Twin Cities Estate Planning Council; and Team Women. As a former securities regulation and compliance attorney, Ms. Roberts created and implemented the first investment advisor examination program for the Minnesota Department of Commerce.
Outside of her career, Ms. Roberts is a devoted family member, an avid reader, and a tennis and fitness enthusiast. She is learning to play golf.
Steve is a litigator who practices at the law firm of KluzEvans LLC. He works relentlessly for his clients to get the best possible results. Chan, PLLC works closely with Steve when disputes arise during the estate planning process that may require court intervention or litigation.
Steve practiced many years as a partner at a large national law firm, honing his litigation skills in court cases and arbitrations. He is skilled at understanding the critical issues in cases and working with his clients to develop sophisticated and cost-effective litigation plans that accomplish their goals.
Working to ensure his clients' success is what drives Steve. He helps clients with contested trusts, estates, guardianships, and conservator proceedings and tirelessly works to resolve difficult and sensitive trust and estate issues. He partners with business clients to help them with legal matters of all sizes, from strategizing to avoid litigation, advocating on behalf of his business clients involved in litigation, and counseling clients after litigation to avoid larger and costlier future cases. He advises clients in the insurance industry, including insurance companies and third-party administrators, and enjoys helping his clients navigate regulations and work with state and federal regulators so that they can move forward and accomplish their business goals. He also works with policyholders seeking coverage from insurance carriers for their losses.