David C. Anderson, A.P.C | Alexandra T. Webber, Esq. | Alison M. Timboe | Diana Felton
DAVID C. ANDERSON, A.P.C
PRINCIPAL
dca@dcalaw.net
DESCRIPTION OF PRACTICE
David Anderson is the principal attorney in the firm. He is licensed in California and Montana and has been a practicing attorney for thirty-six years. For the past twenty years he has restricted his practice to estate planning, trusts, gift and estate tax, probate and associated litigation. David has extensive experience with planning complex estates and dealing with the trust, corporate, limited partnership and LLC entities that are part of affluent clients’ estates. He concentrates on providing sophisticated planning for his clients, and has found that careful planning and thorough execution often attain the desired goals, while avoiding conflicts between family members or disputes with the IRS.
Building an estate plan starts with David getting to understand his clients how their goals can work within the family dynamics. Then, with those goals in mind, he analyzes his estate planning tools to determine which can best be employed to achieve the most effective results. Such an approach requires a planner to be knowledgeable about both human nature and the tax code. Some of the tools which David uses include revocable trusts, life insurance trusts, irrevocable grantor trusts, generation skipping trusts, limited partnerships, LLC’s and tenancy in common agreements for family members, grantor retained annuity trusts, qualified personal residence trusts, charitable trusts and retirement plan trusts. Successful planning often involves what David calls “elegant simplicity”, which he briefly describes as attaining a client’s goals as simply, efficiently and effectively as possible.
Occasionally, new or existing clients become involved in controversies, usually involving poorly performing Trustees, disappointed individuals, unhappy beneficiaries or zealous IRS agents. David’s prior experience as a litigation attorney enables the firm to provide vigorous representation to protect and promote the interests of its clients in all areas of estate, trust and tax litigation.
EDUCATION:
Law School: Harvard Law School, JD, 1972
Undergraduate: Yale University, BA, 1963
High School: Coronado High School, 1959
INTERESTS AND EXPERIENCE:
David was born and raised in Coronado, CA. Upon finishing high school he traveled east to attend college at Yale University. Upon graduating from Yale, David was commissioned an Ensign in the U. S. Navy, and shortly thereafter went to Navy flight school. He received his wings in December 1964, became a fighter pilot in the F-4 Phantom II, and was trained as a landing signal officer. He flew 215 combat missions off the U. S. S. Kitty Hawk into North Vietnam, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and twenty-two Air Medals. David then became an instructor in the F-4, teaching carrier landings and air-to-ground weapons delivery. He amassed 350 carrier landings before leaving the Navy in 1969 to attend Harvard Law School. Upon graduating in 1972, David spent 1972-1978 in criminal litigation and shortly thereafter moved back to Coronado and opened his own law firm. He primarily represented clients with real property issues and then, breaking with his litigation practice at the end of the 1980’s, he moved his office to San Diego and began his exclusive representation of estate planning clients. It remains a move that he describes as “the best decision of my legal career”.
David has served on multiple charitable and corporate Boards of Directors including the San Diego Air and Space Museum, Scripps Planned Giving Advisory Board, Lambs Players Theater, Trustee of the Lambs Players Endowment Trust, Ventana, Inc. and Z-Sweet, Inc.
BAR AND PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS:
1. California Bar Association since 1972
2. Montana Bar Association since 1995
3. Member, San Diego County Bar Association
4. Member, Estate Planning Section of CA Bar Association
5. Member, Tax Section, San Diego County Bar Association
6. Member, Estate Planning Section, San Diego County Bar Association
7. Member, La Jolla Estate Planning Section, San Diego Bar Association
8. Member, Estate Planning Council of San Diego.
9. Member, Planned Giving Executive Council, UCSD
BOOKS AND ARTICLES PUBLISHED:
1. Contributing Author: Generations, Planning Your Legacy, 1999
2. Contributing Author: Legacy, Plan, Preserve and Protect Your Estate, 1996
3. Author: Providing Guidelines for Executors and Trustees, Conspectus Current
4. Author: Avoid Classification as an Investment Company, Conspectus Current
PERSONAL:
David and his wife, Dode, leads active personal lives. He has been a pilot for 45 years and they have a riverfront ranch on the Big Hole River in Montana. He enjoys fly fishing in varied locals and is a skier, backpacker, golfer and swimmer. Dode and David have a combined five children who are successfully pursuing their own careers from Boston, MA to the Big Island of Hawaii.
