Justia Legal Services & Lawyers Directory

Mitchell A. Port, Esq. is an attorney in Los Angeles specializing in four areas of law: Tax Controversies, California Probate, Estate Planning, and Business Transactions.

He began his career as a lawyer with the IRS national office in Washington D.C, where he worked on tax collection and litigation matters. He later worked at two noted local law firms where he further developed his tax controversy skills and represented clients in estate planning, probate, and business transactions. Mitch is a former Internal Revenue Service revenue/collection officer.

After gaining the skills, knowledge and experience, Mitch founded the Law Office of Mitchell A. Port. As a sole practitioner, Mitch provides each client with the specialized skills, experience, personal focus and hands-on attention they need at cost-effective rates.

In addition to administering a decedent's estate as well as identifying and distributing assets to beneficiaries, Mitch also offers services for other issues that may require the attention of a probate court, including the following:

Lost wills

Will contests

The removal of executors and trustees

Petitions for probate

Trust administration

Probate litigation

Other legal matters that must go through the California
probate court, including conservatorships
(a court proceeding for incapacitated and incompetent adults)
and guardianships (a court proceeding for minors)

Post-Mortem tax planning

Our firm has also successfully represented clients in probate cases involving real estate, stocks, bonds and investments of all kinds, such as general and limited partnerships; limited liability companies; sole proprietorships; corporations; and active businesses.

In the event that your probate case involves a tax controversy matter, such as unpaid income taxes owed by the deceased or estate taxes, Mitch is an experienced specialist in tax controversy who will offer you simple yet effective solutions.

Probate is rarely straightforward. Working with your law firm should be. Probate litigation can be a stressful experience, involving high risk exposure and unpredictable results. You need a lawyer who will simplify the process and not complicate it further. At the Law Office of Mitchell A. Port, the firm is committed to helping our clients find the most direct route to a successful outcome.

When you are faced with probate, choose a law firm that will help you chart the right course. Choose the Law Office of Mitchell A. Port. Attorney Mitchell A. Port will represent you in any probate court in California.

Mitch also represents individuals and businesses with cases pending before the IRS, the U.S. Tax Court and Superior Courts throughout California. He handles estate planning matters as well as trust administration services. As a business transaction attorney, Mitch provides legal advice and representation on business formation, business organization, business transactions and business tax matters.

Mitch Port translates all legal and tax jargon into plain English for his clients when dealing with tax controversy cases in the U.S. Tax Court and problems with the Internal Revenue Service, while strategizing during a California probate case and when discussing estate tax planning so that every client he works with is informed, up-to-date, aware of case developments, and able to make educated and informed decisions.

A California attorney since 1982, Mitch is licensed to practice before the 9th Circuit Federal Court of Appeals, the U.S. Tax Court and state courts throughout California. He earned an L.L.M in tax law from the University of San Diego School of Law and a J.D. from Southwestern University School of Law. Mitch graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles with a B.A. in Political Science.

Mitch is a pro bono speaker for many professional accounting associations, service and non-profit organizations, as well as a writer whose articles have been published in several trade publications. He serves or has served on the board of directors of several non-profit organizations. Married with two daughters, Mitch is an avid and skilled cyclist who has ridden throughout the eastern seaboard and on long rides from California to Mexico. He has also backpacked in half a dozen national parks, the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and Canada. He is currently learning to play the piano so he can share this interest with his girls.

I am licensed as a California attorney and have been in practice since 1976. I also passed the California Certified Public Accountant's Exam in 1976. I have a dynamic and sophisticated transactional practice and provide creative, practical solutions to the issues confronting medium to high net worth individual clients, and small to medium sized entrepreneurial businesses. I advise clients, CPAs and other attorneys regarding the following:

ESTATE AND TRUST MATTERS: including wills, trusts, gifts, life insurance, estate administration, trust administration, probate estates, how to minimize or eliminate estate taxes, proper allocation of assets into trusts with extensive pre and post death analysis. I prepare all documentation for an estate plan including powers of attorney for health care and general powers of attorney. I prepare estate tax returns and gift tax returns. I prepare Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts and Trusts for Children and Grandchildren, as well as Special Needs Trusts. I also invest the assets of various trusts and estates, and, as a fiduciary, prepare all accountings, and interact with the donors and beneficiaries of the trusts that I manage. I advise Trustees and Beneficiaries on their rights and obligations.

BUSINESS MATTERS: including organization, capital formation, merger and consolidation; sale and acquisition of stock and assets; reorganization, recapitalization, liquidation and dissolution of corporations, partnerships, limited liability companies and joint ventures; licensing, distribution and supply arrangements, credit and financing arrangements, intellectual property matters and executive compensation and other shareholder, member, officer and employee-related matters.

REAL ESTATE MATTERS:including purchases and sales, construction, leasing, renting, financing, and exchanges. I consult with and am consulted by appraisers and other fiduciaries in all areas of my practice.

MEMBERSHIPS: I am a member of the California State Bar's Estate Plans, Trusts, and Probate Section, Real Estate Section, Corporate Law Section, and Taxation Section. I am also a member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association, including their Taxation Committee, Business and Corporation Law Committee, and Probate and Trust Law Committee. Additionally, I am a member of the Beverly Hills Bar Association, including their Corporate and Commercial Law Committee,Probate and Trust Committee, Real Estate Committee

From 1976 to 1996 Bert Z. Tigerman was a name partner in three Beverly Hills law firms. His then practice generally involved transactional and litigation work on real estate and tax and later estate planning and probate matters. He has appeared in the state and federal courts in Los Angeles as well as the California Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. In 1996 he left the active practice to become the Executive Director of the Beverly Hills Bar Association, the sixth largest volundary bar association in California.

He retired from the bar association in March of 2004, and became Of Counsel and Firm Administrator of the Wartnick Law Firm in San Francisco. There he managed the dissolution of the firm overseeing staff, legal personnel, accounting and all other operating law firm issues. He also supervised the probate department of the firm and was involved in the preparation of several appellate briefs for the California Court of Appeal, the California Supreme Court and the Supreme Court of the United States

Last year he ceased being the Firm Administrator but, until year end, continued to supervise the firms probate department from Los Angeles.

I have been licensed to practice law in the State of California since 1999. I am a partner at the law firm of Hong & Mashal, LLP. I studied accounting at the University of Southern California, and obtained my law degree from Loyola Law School. While attending Loyola Law School, I became a Production Editor of the Entertainment Law Review, and was also placed on the Dean's Honor List. I am fluent in English and Farsi, and have limited command of the Spanish language. I am active in the community, and enjoy hiking and photography in my spare time. I work passionately and aggressively in representing my clients and protecting their legal rights.

We have offices in Los Angeles, Santa Clarita, Brentwood, Woodland Hills, and Glendale.

Please see more information about our company at http://www.vanrooylawoffices.com