Our Team

ESTATE AND BUSINESS PLANNING ATTORNEY

Dan Hulsizer

Dan Hulsizer represents closely held companies and the families that own them, in coordinating their corporate and business planning, tax planning, and estate planning.

Dan also represents non-profit organizations in entity formation, applying for tax-exempt status recognition, and ongoing tax compliance matters and advises clients in probate and trust administration.

The Gonzaga University law school graduate is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants; Arizona Society of Certified Public Accountants; State Bar of Arizona’s Tax Law, Probate and Trust, and Business Law sections; and Central Arizona Estate Planning Council.

Business Planning and Transactions

Dan’s practice also emphasizes coordinated business planning, seeking to ensure that his clients’ closely held businesses are properly organized, minimize tax liability, and support the owners’ personal planning objectives, and is involved in many client business transactions. In pursing those objectives, Dan serves as general counsel for many of his business clients, providing advice in the following areas:

  • Entity formation (S corporations, LLCs, taxpayer status)
  • Management structure and operating agreements
  • Adequacy of capitalization
  • Mergers and acquisitions
  • Employment agreements (e.g., non-disclosure and non-compete covenants)
  • Retirement plans and pensions, including 401(k) and defined benefit plans

Recent matters include:

  • Assisted in many business transactions from $5 million up involving ownership redemptions, cross purchase agreements, and M&A transactions (asset and ownership interest sales)
  • Assisted an aerospace manufacturer in a sale to a private equity firm with an aggregate price of $200 million
  • Assisted in complex real estate development agreements

 

Estate Planning

In helping clients achieve their estate planning objectives, Dan offers experience in a wide variety of situation-specific planning strategies, including:

  • Revocable living trust
  • Irrevocable trust
  • Irrevocable IRA trust
  • Irrevocable life insurance trust
  • Grantor retained annuity trust (GRAT)
  • Grantor retained unitrust (GRUT)
  • Qualified personal residence trust (QPRT)
  • Intentionally defective grantor trust (IDGT)
  • Gun trust
  • Dynasty trust
  • Family limited partnership (FLP)
  • Single asset LLC
  • Single purpose LLC
  • Areas of Practice

    Business Law

    Corporations, Partnerships and LLCs

    Estate Planning

    Probate and Trust Administration

    Tax Planning

  • Honors and Awards

    Arizona’s Finest Lawyers, 2014

  • Professional Associations and Memberships

    State Bar of Arizona: Tax Law Section; Probate and Trust Section; Business Law Section

    Central Arizona Estate Planning Council: Member, 2005-present; Membership Chair, 2015-2019; Member, Board of Directors, 2016-2019

    American Institute of Certified Public Accountants

    Arizona Society of Certified Public Accountants

  • Court Admissions

    Arizona, 2004

    U.S. District Court, District of Arizona, 2004

    U.S. Tax Court, 2004

    New York State Unified Court, 2003

  • Education

    J.D., Gonzaga University, 2002: CALI (Estate & Gift Tax), 2001: Associate Editor, Gonzaga Journal of International Law, 2001-2002

    Visiting Student, Hofstra University School of Law, Spring 2002

    B.A., Whitworth University, 1989

  • Board Memberships

    Whitworth Foundation: Board Member, 2015–present

    Gonzaga University Law School: Board of Advisors, 2015-present

    Gonzaga University Law School Foundation: Board Member, 2017-present; Chairman, 2020–present