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Michelle   Evans
Principal
Washington D.C. Office
Bethesda Office

Contact

Phone: 240.507.1728
Fax: 240.507.1735
Mailing: 4800 Montgomery Lane ,
9th Floor , Bethesda , MD   20814
Linkedin: Michelle Evans
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PRACTICE FOCUS

Michelle L. Evans focuses her practice on estate planning and trust and estate administration in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia.

Ms. Evans assists clients with creating estate plans to meet their financial and personal objectives.  Such planning often includes the preparation of Wills, Revocable and Irrevocable Trusts, Durable General Powers of Attorney, and Advance Medical Directives.

Ms. Evans dedicates a substantial amount of her time to estate and trust administration matters.  Her administration practice includes directing fiduciaries through the probate process in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia, and assisting with the preparation of inventories and accounts.  Ms. Evans prepares federal, D.C., and Maryland estate tax returns for taxable estates as well as federal estate tax returns to elect portability of the federal estate tax exclusion amount.

POINTS OF DISTINCTION

  • Washington D.C. Rising Star, selected by Super Lawyers, 2018-2019 a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement.  Only 2.5% of attorneys are selected to Rising Stars.
  • Maryland Rising Star, selected by Super Lawyers, 2019 a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement.  Only 2.5% of attorneys are selected to Rising Stars.
  • Top Lawyer 2018, Trusts & Estates, Washingtonian Magazine

PUBLICATIONS

  • Wills, Trusts and Estates for the D.C. Area Practitioner, Matthew Bender treatise, 2017 - Present, Co-author with Nicholas Ward
  • Updated Estate and Gift Tax Exclusions for 2019, Offit Kurman Legal Blog, January 31, 2019
  • District of Columbia and Maryland Residents Enjoy Estate Tax Relief in 2017, McArthur Franklin PLLC Client Alert, October 26, 2016
  • Moving Beyond Grandpa's Pension: Estate and Tax Planning with Retirement Benefits, Virginia State Bar Trusts and Estates Section Newsletter, Summer 2016
  • The Results are In . . . Exemption and Exclusion Amounts Set for 2016, McArthur Franklin PLLC Client Alert, November 20, 2015
  • D.C. Estate Tax Exemption Will Increase . . . But When?, McArthur Franklin PLLC Client Alert, March 4, 2015
  • Note, Wrongs Committed During a Marriage:  The Child That No Area of the Law Wants to Adopt, 66 WASH. & LEE L. REV. 465 (Law Review Award Winner from Washington and Lee Law Council)

SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

  • Building Wealth, Creating Professional Freedom, Healthcare Businesswomen's Association, Bethesda, MD, May 22, 2019, Panelist
  • Joint Trusts:  Does It Take Two (Revocable Trusts) to Make a Thing Go Right?, D.C. Bar Estate Planning Tax Series, Washington, D.C., May 17, 2017, Co-Presenter
  • Picking Up the Tab: Considerations in Drafting Tax Apportionment Clause, D.C. Bar Estate Planning Tax Series, Washington, D.C., September 8, 2015, Co-Presenter

Practice Areas

Education & Admissions

  • J.D., Washington & Lee University School of Law, 2009 (Order of the Coif; Washington and Lee Law Review, Senior Articles Editor)
  • B.S., Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 2006
  • Maryland, 2016
  • District of Columbia, 2011
  • Virginia, 2009

Activities

  • D.C. Bar Estates, Trusts & Probate Law Steering Committee (July 2019 – Present)
  • Washington, D.C. Estate Planning Council - Co-Chair of Communications Committee (July 2019 - Present)
  • Washington, D.C. Estate Planning Council - Co-Chair of Professional Development Committee (January 2019 - June 2019)
  • American Bar Association – Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section; Taxation Law Section
  • Virginia Bar Association – Wills, Trusts & Estates and Taxation Sections
  • District of Columbia Bar – Estates, Trusts & Probate Law Section
  • Maryland State Bar Association

Posts

"Updated Estate And Gift Tax Exclusions For 2019"

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 created sweeping amendments in federal tax legislation, including important modifications to the federal estate and gift tax laws.  The impact of the federal estate tax changes on the D.C. and Maryland estate tax systems created a frenzy of local legislation during 2018.  As the dust settles on 2018, there is more clarity for estate tax exemptions in 2019.