Author Archives: Mary Piasta

The SLP Experience—What sets us apart?

Simply stated, SLP lawyers give our clients a competitive edge. Every one of us attended top-ranked law schools, learned our craft from well-recognized legal teams affiliated with sophisticated law firms, and maintain close ties to the communities we serve. We want to be the lawyers you trust to have your best interests at heart, and to go the distance for our clients. As business strategists, we trail blaze an entrepreneurial approach to legal services that realigns traditional service models. How do we do this? Read on.

ABA Approved

Each of our lawyers got their

Do you want to take your career in a new direction?

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Do you want to take your career in a new direction?

What sets us apart from the competition? Everything. We are a community-based law firm focused on the business of law from the perspective of those we serve. We use our knowledge of the law to build a better world starting right here, right now. For more than 100 years, our firm has enhanced and enriched Sonoma and the surrounding community one individual and one business at a time. Our practice includes business, estate planning, real estate, and employment law, meeting personal and business needs with an emphasis on family-owned

Local Law Firm Sonoma Law Partners PC Accelerates Growth with Employment Lawyers Wright & Supple

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SONOMA, CA – February 6, 2023 – The combination of two local law firms, Sonoma Law Partners PC (SLP) and Wright & Supple (W&S) expands SLP’s services to include employment law counsel through a joint effort that redefines collaboration. SLP partners Mary Piasta and Tony Valluzzo continue to reinvent the law firm business model, working with W&S, a women-owned employment law firm led by Mary Wright and Oriet Cohen-Supple. As transformational change continues to rock the legal industry, this innovative approach offers clients the legal services they need across the full spectrum of business and employment law, while controlling costs … Read More

Omitting Heirs (Disinheritance)

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Sometimes an estate goal is to effectively omit someone from the parade of beneficiaries. This type of disinheritance must be done properly to minimize the risk of litigation and maximize distributions to intended beneficiaries.

In 2010, California law added hoops to make disinheritance more difficult to withstand a contest. This law does require specific language in a bequest. California law presumes that direct heirs (children and spouses) will be provided for in one’s estate planning. That said, California, unlike Napoleonic countries does not require this type of gift.

In California, one cannot simply omit them from their Will and/or Trust. … Read More

Wine Country has its beauty, including the many people who flock here to live. It is becoming more common for non-citizens to take up abodes here. This goes back to the founding of Sonoma heavily influenced by international residents. For those interested in a delightful historic recap consider viewing the documentary the Call of the Valley.

The question arises, how does living in the US impact the ability and strategies with estate planning? This is not an easy answer. Often factors relating to citizenship goals can drive a response. These couple with the laws of the citizenship country. For … Read More

The International Side of Estate Planning

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Living in a tourist mecca attracts a worldwide community of residents. Often parents relocate from another area to be near their family here in wine country. How they do it has implications for many things, including their estates.

In the realm of estate planning, this means that issues abound relating to the interplay of domestic and international inheritance laws. To the re-locatee, these questions seem simple. To the planner, they are anything but often requiring in depth consideration of the client’s goals, assets, location and legal parameters.

Generally speaking, there are two types of succession law structures, civil and common … Read More

Succession planning and figurines with arrows.

Legacy & Succession

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Thomas A. Haeuser (retired)

ex-Partner Thomas A. Haeuser (retired) takes on new role as SLP advisor and community leader

We are proud and pleased to announce that our long-time partner Thomas Haeuser (retired) will be taking on a new role at the firm in the new year. Effective January 1 2022, Tom will continue to serve in an advisory capacity, taking a step back from active practice to focus on community activities. Those around town already know Tom for his presence on the Plaza and his unflagging efforts to make our town and the surrounding community a special place for … Read More

Business Compliance

Our year-end checklist provides useful tips for year-round check-ups.

Top 5 Year-end Business Compliance Checklist

Performance and Operations ‒ I have discussed and mapped out performance and operations with management and legal counsel. Yes No
Entity Structure/Governing Instruments ‒ I have reviewed my business entity structure and updated articles of organization/incorporation, operating agreement, bylaws, partnership, or other agreements as needed. Yes No
I am up to date on all corporate formalities for California corporations to maintain my personal liability protection. Yes No
I have finalized my year-end accounting and closed the books for the calendar or fiscal year

Delaware Statutory Trusts

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A tool in California that asset protection lawyers use is a Delaware Statutory Trust, otherwise known as a DST. The mechanics are rather simple and set forth in the Delaware Statutory Trust Act. One erects the business structure with the appropriate documentary filings including the naming of non-California agents to act on behalf of the trust. These things together act to limit liability by having the official actors out of state. The out-of-state defendant is harder to involve in a California lawsuit.

The benefits include circumventing the standard California business tax and asset protection. In addition, a DST may be … Read More

Proposition 19 Impacts Family Winery Legacy

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A recent legacy case illustrates how Proposition 19 impacts grandparents wishing to leave their family vineyard property to their granddaughter.

Change in the Law
Effective February 16, 2021, Prop. 19 modified the reassessment exclusion for parents and grandparents wishing to pass down their property to their children or grandchildren who were not going to live there, leaving certain estates vulnerable.

What About the Exclusion Limits?
Prior to Prop. 19, primary residences of unlimited value could be transferred avoiding reassessment up to an additional $1 million of assessed value. This also had zero requirement that the child lives at that property. … Read More