David Shulman

I am an almost native Floridian (I moved here when I was two), and have lived in Broward County for my entire life, except for a brief (ok, maybe not so brief) sojourn in Boston, and Washington, DC. I am an attorney, and my practice is dedicated solely to estate planning, which includes tax planning and asset protection, and probate and trust administration. In short, I help you protect for and provide for your family and their future. Simply put, estate planning is allowing yourself to retain control of your property while you are alive, provide for and protect yourself and your loved ones if you become disabled, and to give what you have, to who you want, when you want, and how you want, while paying the least amount of taxes, costs, lawyer’s fees, and administrative fees as possible.

Why I Chose Estate Planning

I came to the practice estate planning in a funny way. When I entered George Washington University Law School (in Washington, DC) after graduating Brandeis University (which is outside of Boston), I had no idea what type of law I wanted to practice. There was, however, one thing I knew I wasn’t interested in – tax. I had no accounting background, didn’t think I was good at math, and was a bit terrified of it.

When I was looking for a job between my first and second years of law school, I applied for the summer program at the US Department of Justice. This is a very competitive program, and on the application, I could choose the division that I wanted to be in. Looking over the form, I saw categories such as: Civil Rights and the Criminal Division. I knew that there would be too many applicants for those positions, and that I would not get the job. I thought to myself – what is the one division that would be the most boring – so boring that no one would want to apply. Aha! The Tax Division! So during the summer between the first and second year of law school, I worked at the tax division of the US Department of Justice.

And wow – it wasn’t boring at all. I fell in love with an area of the law. After that summer I took as many tax classes as I could, and once I graduated law school, I got a job with the Internal Revenue Service. At the IRS, I was an attorney-adviser in the Office of Chief Counsel, Passthroughs and Special Industries. There, I specialized in the writing of regulations, revenue rulings, revenue procedures, and private letter rulings for partnerships, S corporations, and trusts.

I greatly enjoyed my time in Washington, but Broward County is home. I missed my family. I missed the community. And I was a bit tired of being cold. Also, as much as I enjoyed tax, I did not want to practice “straight” corporate or partnership tax law with a law firm. Instead, I was more interested in working with families. Estate planning was the perfect area for me to combine my tax background with my desire to provide meaningful service directly to families and individuals, in such a way that I can make an impact in their lives.

After seven years with the IRS, I moved home to South Florida. I took a year off from working and obtained my LL.M, which is a masters in law, in estate planning from the University of Miami. I then worked for a large law firm for a few years, where I gained the requisite experience in being an estate planning attorney. I started my own practice in February of 2009 so I could dedicate myself to serving clients in the way that I wanted to. I believe that having a small client-focused practice allows me to give more attention to each individual matter.

While I loved being a solo practitioner, in 2013, Jill and I combined our firms to better serve both of our clients.

I pride myself on the fact that I prepare all of my estate planning documents myself and do not hand them off to a paralegal or secretary to do for me. If you are interested in learning more about me and my practice, please visit my blog, where I write about estate planning, probate, tax, and any other random topic that interests me.