Thomas F. Garth
Senior Partner
Tom Garth practices in the areas of taxation, corporate and estate tax, estate planning, qualified retirement plan, corporate, mergers and acquisitions, foreign tax planning, securities and health care. He has practiced before probate courts, state courts, U.S. district courts and tax courts. He regularly represents clients in the formation of family limited partnerships, LLCs, wills, grantor retained annuity trusts, grantor trusts and other leveraged estate planning opportunities. He also regularly assists clients with estate tax return audits and handles large-scale IRS disputes.
Tom has been a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel since 1989 and was state chair from 2020-2024. He was with Lyons, Pipes & Cook in Mobile before the firm joined Phelps Dunbar. Tom was an officer in the U.S. Navy from 1970-71, where he was stationed on the U.S.S. Lexington, CVT-16.
Experience
- Handled and is currently handling IRS disputes up to $20 million
- Has completed ESOPs for companies ranging from $5-100 million
- Regularly represents clients in the formation of family limited partnerships, LLCs, grantor retained annuity trusts, grantor trusts and other leveraged estate planning opportunities
- Represents clients in the formation of captive insurance companies both offshore and onshore
- Regularly assists clients with estate tax return audits and has successfully resolved audits by IRS with estates in the $10-50 million range
- Created defined benefit plans as an earnings deferral technique and regularly assists closely held organizations with their tax planning using tax preferred earnings bail out techniques
- Represents a number of high net worth individuals who own timberland and oil and gas producing properties and closely held corporations
- Created charitable remainder trusts, charitable lead trusts, and conservations easements