Jeschamma (Jesch) Augustin

November 23rd, 2025 by roy sasson

Jesch is an Associate in the firm’s Estate, Trust, and Guardianship Litigation group. She represents beneficiaries, fiduciaries, and families in complex estate, trust, and guardianship matters, including will and trust contests, fiduciary disputes, and contested probate proceedings. Prior to joining the firm, Jesch practiced probate administration and estate litigation in North Carolina. She also served […]

Posted in
Comments Off on Jeschamma (Jesch) Augustin

Alison R. Levy

November 10th, 2025 by roy sasson

Alison R. Levy is an associate with the law firm of Gutter Chaves Josepher Rubin Forman Fleisher Miller P.A. Alison received her J.D. from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and a B.S. from the University of Florida. Alison advises with respect to substantive and procedural areas of federal taxation, including federal tax planning, […]

Posted in
Comments Off on Alison R. Levy

Eric A. Rice

April 10th, 2025 by roy sasson

Eric is an associate in the firm’s Probate, Trust, and Guardianship Litigation practice group. He focuses his practice on the areas of probate, trust, guardianship, and fiduciary litigation. Eric represents fiduciaries and individuals in all forms of probate, trust, and guardianship litigation, including will and trust contests, breach of trust actions, contested guardianships, and tortious […]

Posted in
Comments Off on Eric A. Rice

Jonathan A. Galler

January 14th, 2019 by roy sasson

Jonathan represents beneficiaries and fiduciaries in high-stakes estate, trust and guardianship disputes. He works closely with the estate and tax planning lawyers at the firm to come up with the most effective solutions and options available for clients. These can include litigating undue influence claims, will and trust contests, inheritance disputes, breach of fiduciary duty […]

Posted in
Comments Off on Jonathan A. Galler

Jenna G. Rubin

February 25th, 2015 by Charles Rubin

Jenna G. Rubin is an accomplished Boca Raton attorney focusing on estate planning, probate and trust administration, and fiduciary litigation. A Harvard Law School graduate and 2025 Super Lawyer, she is AV Preeminent rated and widely recognized for her expertise in complex estate and trust matters. Jenna is a Fellow of ACTEC and an active […]

Posted in
Comments Off on Jenna G. Rubin

Recent News

15 May 2023

Jenna Rubin presents at ABA National Symposium

On May 12, 2023, Jenna Rubin presented at the 35th Annual Real Property Trust and Estate Law Section of the American Bar Association’s National CLE Conference in Washington DC. She took part in a panel discussion on “Black Tie Optional: The Eroding Formalities to Creating a Valid Will.”

24 Feb 2022

Article by Charles and Jenna Rubin featured on cover of Florida Bar Journal

An article written by Charles Rubin and Jenna Rubin is featured on the cover of this month’s Florida Bar Journal and can be found here.

27 Dec 2021

Jenna Rubin appointed to ACTEC Fiduciary Litigation Committee

Gutter Chaves is pleased to announce that Jenna G. Rubin has been appointed to the Fiduciary Litigation Committee of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) for the 2022-2023 year.

14 Dec 2021

FBAR Case Reversed – Nonwillful Filing Penalties Based on Number of Accounts Not Reported

Back in 2000, I wrote here about a case where a taxpayer did not report multiple foreign accounts on an FBAR. The question for the court was whether the $10,000 penalty for a nonwillful failure to file meant $10,000 per return not filed, or $10,000 per account not reported on the return. For . . .

22 Nov 2021

Of Spousal Gifts and the Substance Over Form Doctrine

U.S. spouses each have a unified credit that allows for substantial gifting to third parties without requiring the payment of gift tax. What happens if one spouse has assets to be gifted away, but that spouse does not have sufficient remaining unified credit exemption to cover the gift and wants to use the exemption of the other spouse?

At times, the spouses can agree to split the gift for gift tax purposes, which treats 1/2 the gift as coming from each spouse. This allows the unified credit of the spouse not making the gift to be used to avoid gift tax on the 1/2 that such spouse is treated as making. However, it can be an imperfect solution if the spouse with the assets does not have enough unified credit to offset his or her 1/2 of the gift.

Oftentimes, the parties may contemplate having the party with the assets transfer them by gift to the other spouse (a tax-free gift under the gift tax marital deduction), and then the receiving spouse makes a gift to the third party applying his or her own unified credit. The question in these circumstances is whether the IRS will respect the transaction and allow the receiving spouse’s unified credit to be applied to the gift to the third party, or whether it would seek to apply the “substance over form” doctrine to treat the gift as coming from the spouse who transferred the assets to the other spouse and does not have enough unified credit to fully cover the gift.

This is not a black and white issue. On one end of the spectrum. . .

A boutique law firm with a practice limited to

tax, estate planning, probate, trust & guardianship law and litigation, and related commercial matters