About the Firm
Bob Ciancola is a sole practitioner attorney licensed in Arizona and Connecticut with over fifteen years practicing law and many more dealing with complex tax issues. Here is Bob on his legal service philosophy:
With help from my full-time legal assistant I do all of the legal work myself – we do not use contract workers. Your work will not be assigned to a junior attorney. I focus intently on the clients’ needs. My philosophy can be described as follows:
- Meet the client and determine the client’s goals and objectives.
- Stay focused on the client and the achievement of those goals and objectives.
- Stick to the areas in which you have expertise and refer clients to other competent lawyers if their issues involve other practice areas.
- Avoid litigation whenever possible.
- Accomplish the above at the lowest possible cost to the client.
Areas of Practice
Tax Law
- Tax Planning, which touches on both of my other practice areas, estate planning and business planning.
- Audits and Appeals – representing taxpayers before the IRS and the Arizona Department of Revenue
- Legal Opinions on Tax Law Issues
- Tax effects of foreclosures and short sales
- Offers in Compromise, Installment Agreements – representing taxpayers before the collections division of the IRS
- Non-profits – including gaining recognition of 501(c)(3) status from the IRS
- WE DO NOT PREPARE TAX RETURNS!
Business Transactions
- Starting a Business – choice of entity, organizing corporations, LLCs, limited liability partnerships
- Managing a Business – contracts, warranties, leases, owners agreements, succession planning, financing
- Selling a Business – sales contracts, security agreements, take-back financing
Estates and Trusts
I include under this heading:
- Estate Planning, which focuses on preparation of documents intended to operate in the future.
- Wills
- Revocable living trusts (when appropriate – see my article on this)
- Durable Powers of Attorney
- Health Care Power of Attorney and Mental Health Care Option
- Living Will
- Irrevocable Trusts (again, when appropriate)
- Beneficiary designations and beneficiary deeds
- Retirement accounts such as IRAs and 401(k) plans
- Planning with life insurance
- Guardianships and Conservatorships – for children and disabled adults
- Probates – the process of administering a will or the estate of a person who dies without a will
- Informal probates – for uncontested estates
- Formal probates – for contested estates
- Trust Administration – what happens when the grantor of a revocable living trust dies? The trust is no longer living and no longer revocable, and must be administered by its trustee.