Adam P.M. Tarleton

Working with a select group of entrepreneurs, family businesses, and nonprofits, Adam Tarleton provides counsel on tax, estate planning, and business matters to help clients protect and preserve their wealth and achieve their personal and financial goals. He is certified as a specialist in Estate Planning and Probate Law by the North Carolina Board of Legal Specialization.

Adam works with high net worth individuals to design and execute estate plans that minimize the tax and other costs of transferring wealth to younger generations, and helps develop succession plans to preserve the value of family-owned businesses through multiple generations. Adam also works with trustees and beneficiaries to modify existing trusts to adapt to changing laws and circumstances.

He helps families form private foundations, charitable trusts, and other nonprofit organizations, and provides advice on how to structure charitable gifts to maximize the tax benefits of philanthropic activity. Adam also helps nonprofits in compliance matters, with a particular focus on working within tax rules that limit the ways in which charities can participate in the political process.

He defends clients in IRS and state tax audits, and represents taxpayers in administrative appeals and litigation seeking the refund or abatement of taxes and penalties assessed in audit proceedings. Adam’s previous successes include obtaining favorable settlements or decisions in cases involving conservation easements, cigarette and tobacco taxes, real estate losses, and federal estate tax matters.

Adam helps clients understand the complicated federal and state tax laws impacting their businesses, and provides practical advice on how to structure business transactions – including start-ups, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, divisions, and liquidations – in the most tax-efficient way possible. He also helps clients negotiate terms of key governing documents for their businesses, such as operating agreements, bylaws, and shareholder or buy-sell agreements.