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Colby College, Waterville, Maine, B.A., 2003
The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, Columbus, Ohio, J.D., 2006
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AV-Rating (Martindale Hubbell) - 2014 to present
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Matt represents numerous business owners and families with estates ranging from $1 million to more than $600 million. His work includes GRATs, SLATs, dynasty and multi-generational planning, sales to grantor trusts, charitable planning, and federal estate and gift tax returns. Below is a sample of matters he has handled.
Business owners and families with concentrated wealth
Real estate family with a net worth of more than $600 million. Restructured an existing irrevocable trust under Ohio law and used it to acquire the parents’ remaining interests in two family companies through a series of transactions totaling more than $16 million. Result: the companies, now worth more than $70 million, sit entirely outside the parents’ taxable estates.
Estate and wealth transfer planning for a third-generation owner of a $300M+ family business, including grantor gift trusts, ILIT planning, and coordination with legacy multigenerational family trusts.
Business owner in his 40s with a net worth of approximately $80 million concentrated in closely held companies. Designed and executed a multi-year gifting program using minority-interest transfers to grantor trusts for young children, coordinating appraisals, operating agreement amendments, and gift tax returns for each transaction.
Family with more than $60 million in wealth. Long-term counsel on a multigenerational plan involving a series of GRATs that have moved more than $20 million out of the parents’ taxable estates, along with a SLAT, charitable remainder trusts, grandchild trusts, and family lending. Prepared the federal estate tax return at the first spouse’s death, covering real estate in three states and interests in five closely held entities.
Executive with a $30 million estate concentrated in publicly traded stock. Built a rolling GRAT program, now in its fifth cycle, that has moved $10 million out of the client’s estate without using any gift tax exemption.
Second-generation business owner worth over $70 million with a blended family. Designed a plan using dynasty trusts and installment sales of S corporation stock, with sequenced tax elections to preserve S corp status across generations.
Investor with a family portfolio. Formed an LLC and transferred 99% to grantor trusts for the client’s children, supporting minority-interest and marketability discounts.
Widow in her 80s with a $27 million estate and concentrated, low-basis stock. Restated her trust to keep children’s inheritances in protected lifetime trusts, designed separate GRATs for each stock position, and coordinated Roth conversion and tax-loss harvesting strategies with her financial advisors.
Client with more than $12 million in lifetime gifts. Transferred 90% of a family real estate LLC to trusts for her children at an appraised value of approximately $3 million after minority and marketability discounts.
Charitable families
Couple building a family foundation. Drafted a private foundation trust with multigenerational governance and prepared the Form 1023 application for tax-exempt status.
Couple with a large IRA and charitable goals. Structured a private foundation as the contingent IRA beneficiary, funded only after both spouses die, alongside gifts of LLC interests to a dynasty trust.
Couple in their 80s whose family doesn’t need their wealth. Designed a plan using qualified charitable distributions during life and a donor advised fund at the second death, with fixed gifts to grandchildren.
Couple with significant charitable commitments. Restructured their joint trust to create lifetime trusts for children and grandchildren, with a schedule dividing charitable shares among 14 organizations.
Blended families and family dynamics
Blended-family couples. Drafted postnuptial agreements that make each spouse the primary beneficiary while fixing how assets divide among both families’ children at the survivor’s death, with enforceable protections for stepchildren.
First-marriage couple concerned about remarriage. Drafted an agreement preserving all assets at the first death for the couple’s daughters while leaving the survivor flexibility, with tracing rules to separate premarital and post-remarriage wealth.
Family with a son living in Japan. Restructured the parents’ trust to size the son’s outright share to the maximum he can receive free of Japanese inheritance tax.
Additional experience
Additional work includes basis step-up planning, restated operating agreements for family LLCs, and numerous gift and estate tax returns.
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American Bar Association YLD Monthly, "Tips on Conducting an Estate Planning Interview"
Ohio Lawyer, “Trusts for the Uninitiated"
Columbus Bar Association Lawyers Quarterly, “Trusts for the Uninitiated"
Columbus Parent, “Why You Need a Will"
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Financial Planning Association (FPA) of Central Ohio, “Recent Developments in Estate Planning”
Middleton Senior Living Lecture Services, “Basic Steps to Get Your Affairs in Order"
National Association of Professional Organizers, “Hot Topics in Estate Planning"
Landlord Engagement Action Network, “Limited Liability Companies and Residential Real Estate Investment Properties"
Columbus Mothers of Twins Club, “Estate Planning for Families with Young Children"
Clintonville MOMS Club, “Estate Planning for Families with Young Children"
Akron Chapter of the American Association of Individual Investors, “Update on Asset Protection Techniques"
Ohio State University Student Financial Planning Association, “Estate Planning and the Relationship Between Financial Advisor and Attorney"
Columbus Chapter of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors, “Introduction to Trusts"
Columbus Chapter of the American Association of Individual Investors, “Asset Protection Through Limited Liability Companies"
Akron Chapter of the American Association of Individual Investors, “Asset Protection Through Limited Liability Companies"
Worthington MOMS Club, “Estate Planning for Families with Young Children"
Powell MOMS Club, “Estate Planning for Families with Young Children"
Clintonville MOMS Club, “Estate Planning for Families with Young Children"
ABOUT MATT
I’ve been an estate planning attorney since 2008 (an attorney since 2006), and I still genuinely love it. I love sitting across from a client, learning what matters to them, drawing the plan on my reMarkable (upside down so they can see it), and then going back to my desk to bring that plan to life. For me, drafting is the part I enjoy most — thinking creatively, crafting with obsessive precision, and finding the perfect answer to even the most complicated situations. Most of my clients are business owners and families with significant wealth, often with blended families, closely held companies, or both.
I’m always refining how we do things — how we prepare for meetings, how we draft documents, how we follow up — because I think the details are what separate a good experience from a great one. I use technology and AI not to cut corners, but to make sure nothing falls through the cracks. Every provision gets checked, every conversation gets reflected in the documents, and every client gets a plan they can actually understand.
After growing up in northeast Ohio, I earned my B.A. from Colby College in Maine, where I played baseball and majored in English. I then received my law degree (and much appreciated in-state tuition) from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law and spent my early career learning the craft at a well-regarded estate planning firm before co-founding Pappas Gibson in 2013.
I live in Granville with my wife, our three kids, and our two dogs. When I’m not working, I’m usually doing dishes, flubbing my way through a home improvement project, stringing lacrosse sticks, or outside with the kids.
