Maria has been practicing in the areas of Estate Planning and Administration since 2007 and works out of both Schwabe’s Salem and Portland offices. Maria’s practice focuses on all aspects of estate planning, charitable planning, business and farm succession, guardianships, conservatorships, probate and trust administration.

Maria frequently provides seminars on various aspects of tax, estate and legacy planning for non-profits, CPAs, financial advisors, insurance and other professionals. Maria works with clients to develop custom estate plans based on individual goals and values.

Common focus areas include planning around:

• Blended Families
• Minor Children
• State and Federal Estate, Gift, Generation-skipping and Income Taxes
• Noncitizens
• Special Needs
• Charitable Giving
• Farm and Business Succession
• Deferred Retirement Accounts
• Spendthrift, Addiction, and Family Health Concerns

Common strategies Maria employs include:

• Revocable Living Trusts
• Charitable Lead / Remainder Trusts
• Charitable Foundations
• Qualified Domestic Trusts
• Spousal Access Trusts
• Life Insurance Trusts
• Special Needs Trusts
• Intentionally Defective Grantor Trusts
• Gifting Trusts
• Generation-Skipping Lifetime Trusts

Maria owned her own law practice, Willamette Valley Estate Planning & Probate, LLC, prior to joining Schwabe. She currently serves on the Chemeketa Community College Foundation Board and the Willamette Valley Estate Planning Council Board. As a native Oregonian, Maria loves the outdoors, especially spending time with her husband and two sons in the mountains of eastern Oregon.

Bar Admissions

• Oregon State Bar

Education

• Willamette University College of Law, Juris Doctor degree, 2007‎, magna cum laude
• Whitman College, Bachelor of Arts, Environmental Science/Political Science, 2001‎

• Developing family farm succession plans that dovetail estate plans for three generations of hazelnut farmers in the Willamette Valley and ensure the farms can stay in the family.
• Creating various Qualified Domestic Trusts for noncitizen spouses from India, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
• Creating a Charitable Lead Annuity Trust and funding it with $1 million that will go to charity for the next 20 years and then will ultimately pass to family estate and gift tax free.
• Developing lifetime trusts for family members who are unable to manage their own inheritance and structuring such trusts to protect the beneficiaries.
• Ensuring that blended families create estate plans that protect the spouse and plan for the children from a previous marriage.
• Creating an irrevocable trust that is qualified to hold life insurance, as well as business interests, in order to maximize estate tax planning and ensure a family business will continue onto the next generation.
• Ensuring commercial real estate is owned in the best way possible, both for asset protection planning and estate planning, in order to transition it to family after death and minimize family conflict and taxes.
• Developing plans for small businesses so that if there is an emergency, the businesses can continue.
• Creating a plan for a financial advising firm to determine succession in the event of the owner’s disability or death.
• Assisting physicians in structuring an estate plan that maximizes asset protection
• Ensuring that families with special needs children or other relatives have a plan in place that allows the children to continue to receive public assistance but provides inheritance and care for the special needs individual.
• Creating legacy wealth transfer plans for high net worth individuals that maximize tax savings and ensure that wealth can benefit family for several generations.

• Issues to Consider for Estate Planning and Business Transitions Before Year-End
• Estate Planning and Business Transition Issues Not to Overlook Before Year-End
• Creating a legacy through lifetime gifting
• The Family Farm Is Coming To You: What’s Next?
• 10 Common Farm Estate Planning Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
• Schwabe CPA Shoptalk: 8 Takeaways
• Tax Reform: What Does the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Mean for the Manufacturing, Distribution and Retail Industry?
• Tax Reform: What Does the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Mean for the Real Estate and Construction Industry?
• Tax Reform: What Does the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Mean for the Transportation, Ports and Maritime Industry?
• Tax Reform: What Does the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Mean for the Healthcare Industry?
• Tax Reform: What Does the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Mean for the Agriculture Industry?
• Tax Reform: What Does the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Mean for the Technology Industry?
• Tax Reform: Summary of Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

Seminar

• Estate Planning and Successful Farm Succession Planning Workshop
• Legal Considerations of Succession Planning
• Estate Planning Core Documents and Considerations
• Farm & Ranch Succession Planning (Burns on July 18 and City of Vale on July 19)
• Farm Succession and Tax Issues
• Agribusiness Management Seminar Series: ONRC & Applications and Related Gift Considerations
• Virtual Estate Planning Seminar
• Ethics in Farm Succession
• The SECURE Act: Retirement Plan Changes for Your Clients
• Tax and Estate Planning Roundtable
• Wills and Trusts Explained
• Changing Hands Workshop
• Legacy, Love & Estate Planning: Wills and Trusts Explained
• NW AG Show
• Farm Bureau Works On Oregon Farm Succession
• Farm Succession Workshop
• Northwest Agriculture Show
• 2018 Washington Dairy Conference
• Estate Planning - Tips and Traps for your Will and Trust
• Estate Planning - Tips and Traps for your Will and Trust
• Mid-Valley Tax Forum Luncheon Series: Income and Estate Tax Considerations for Appreciated Real Estate in a Credit Shelter Trust
• Mental Competence in Estate and Financial Planning Decisions
• Salem Agriculture Seminar
• Portland CPA ShopTalk, January 10, 2018
• Farm Succession Seminar
• In the Field: Central Oregon Agriculture Seminar, Friday, Nov. 10, 2017‎
• Estate Planning Seminar
• Dust Off Your Estate Plan
• Estate Planning Seminar