Eliot S. Nahigian

Mr. Nahigian, a member of the business and personal transactions department, has significant experience in business and personal transactions. He is certified by the State Bar of California as a specialist in estate planning, trusts, and probate law and in taxation law. Mr. Nahigian is also a certified public accountant and has served as past president of the Fresno chapter of the California Society of CPAs.

Mr. Nahigian represents individuals and businesses in estate planning and business transactions including the formation, structuring, and advising of corporations, partnerships, and limited liability companies; preparation and advice on trusts, wills, and estate plans; probate and trust administration; real estate transactions, including 1031 exchanges; buy-sell agreements; and sales, purchases, and mergers of business. He has extensive experience in sophisticated estate plans and complex probates.

Mr. Nahigian is rated AV Preeminent® by Martindale-Hubbell® and has been recognized by his peers as a Super Lawyer, most recently in 2012.  Mr. Nahigian also has extensive experience in probate and trust litigation.

Practice Areas

• Business Transactions
• Business Formation and Dissolution
• Estate, Business and Tax Planning
• Probate and Trust Administration

Education

• Juris Doctor, 1979, Cum Laude, Loyola Law School
• Bachelor of Science, 1973, Summa Cum Laude - Accounting, California State University, Fresno

Admissions

• All California State Courts
• United States Tax Court
• United States District Court for the Eastern District of California
• United States Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit

Professional Associations

• Real Property Law; Taxation; Trust and Estates Sections of the California State Bar Association
• Fresno County Bar Association (Member: Business Law, Estate Planning and Real Property Law Sections)
• California Society of Certified Public Accountants

Significant Transactions

• Real estate acquisitions and refinancings for a local family and leasing of the real estate to their closely held corporation and unrelated tenants.
• Sale of a sole proprietorship to a New York Stock Exchange listed company.
• Sale of a decedent's interest in a food processing business and the real property used in the business.
• Transfer of family limited partnership interests to second and third generation family members by sales and gifts, including substantial valuation discounts.
• IRC §1031 exchanges of investment real estate.
• Sale of a family farm from father to son.
• Independent representation of a beneficiary in a probate estate of over $10 million.
• Representation of co-executors in a complicated probate administration involving eight remainder beneficiaries.
• Representation of co-trustees in trust administration involving over 90 beneficiaries.
• Sale of an established family-owned grocery business to second generation family members.
• Estate planning transactions involving continuing the business with some family members and provision for other family members not involved in the business.
• Formation of a corporation with four shareholders and the purchase of a convenience store.

Articles & Publications

Estate Plans Should Be Reviewed And Revised As A Result Of The Fiscal Cliff