Rick Nickels is a member of the firm’s Tax and Trusts and Estates practice groups. Rick practices at the intersection of estate planning, tax and business.

Rick represents high net worth individuals and families with trust and estate planning matters. He has extensive experience helping clients tailor their wealth transfer and asset preservation goals in a tax efficient manner. Rick regularly advises on federal gift, estate and generation-skipping transfer (GST) taxes as well as federal income taxes. He prepares wills, revocable and irrevocable trusts, intentionally defective grantor trusts, dynasty trusts, asset protection trusts, charitable trusts, family limited partnerships and other estate planning documents.

Within this framework, Rick also represents fiduciaries and beneficiaries with trust and estate dispute, administration and tax matters.

His practice also includes advising private companies and their owners, as well as nonprofit companies and their directors and executives, on an array of state and federal tax, governance and corporate matters. Rick regularly assists business owners with issues ranging from early-stage structure and funding to late-stage exits with an emphasis on Tennessee and federal tax planning in connection with such transactions. He advises family-owned companies with succession and exit planning matters, including preparing limited liability company agreements, buy-sell agreements, stock restriction agreements and other internal governance documents.

Bar Admissions

• Tennessee, 1995

Education

• Cumberland School of Law at Samford University, J.D., 1995
• Carthage College, B.A., 1989, cum laude