Charles J. Vater

Charles J. Vater concentrates his practice in the areas of estate and business planning. He is Chair of the firm’s Estates and Trusts Practice Group and Chair of its Business and Finance Department. He represents a number of closely-held and family-owned businesses and professional corporations, with a focus on business succession planning. As part of that focus and as part of the firm's overall merger and acquisition activity, Chuck has represented a number of clients in the sale and purchase of their businesses. These sales and purchases include leveraged buyouts by existing management and minority owners as well intra family sales and purchases as part of an overall business succession plan.

He advises the firm’s business clients on techniques and strategies for wealth accumulation and transfer. As part of his practice, Chuck also represents individuals in their admission as partners or shareholders in closely-held business. This representation includes the negotiation of preincorporation and shareholder contracts as well as buy/sell, employment and deferred compensation agreements.

In the area of personal estate planning, Chuck’s practice focuses on the structuring and implementation of estate plans that incorporate estate, gift, generation skipping and income tax savings techniques. His estate administration practice is focused on the timely and efficient settling of decedent’s estates, ranging from single-asset, one-beneficiary estates to multi-million dollar estates containing closely-held businesses and complex dispositive schemes. This background allows Chuck to advise the firm’s business clients on the best ways to transfer their business interests with a minimum amount of disruption and tax impact.

Chuck, a member of the firm’s Board of Directors, graduated summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Notre Dame in 1971, and obtained his law degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 1975 where he was an editor of the Law Review and a member of the Order of the Coif. Chuck is the past president of the Estate Planning Council of Pittsburgh and Chairman of the Probate and Trust Council of the Allegheny County Bar Association. He was named a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer for Estate Planning & Probate for 2006. He was also selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® 2007 in the Trusts and Estates Law category.

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