Primary Practice Areas

• Estate, Wealth Transfer & Tax Planning

• Trust & Probate Administration

• Personal, Corporate & Partnership Taxation

• Business Structuring & Succession Planning

• Corporate and Business Transactions

• Real Estate Transactions

Leor Hafuta is a Partner in the firm and uses his background as an attorney, CPA, and LLM in taxation to advise high net worth individuals, real estate investors and closely held businesses.  He focuses his practice on creating and implementing tax-efficient estate planning and business structures for his clients.

Estate, Wealth Transfer & Tax Planning; Trust & Probate Administration

Leor has extensive experience structuring, drafting and implementing conventional estate plans which typically include revocable (“living”) trusts, wills and powers of attorney.  In addition, he uses his background as a CPA and attorney to create and implement strategies to minimize his clients’ income tax, gift and estate tax, and property tax exposure by implementing various estate planning and charitable arrangements such as: life insurance trusts, GRATs, QPRTs, IDGTs, SLATs, CLTs, and CRTs.

In addition, Leor represents trustees, executors, administrators and beneficiaries in connection with trust and probate administration matters.  Such representation includes assistance with marshaling and valuing assets, preparation of allocations and subtrust funding, trust modifications and decanting, and working with and supervising other professionals in preparing gift and estate tax returns.   

He also has significant experience in forming 501(c)(3) entities (such as private foundations, schools and public charities), obtaining and maintaining tax exempt status, and advising on their operational aspects.

Business Structuring & Succession Planning

Leor advises various businesses, entities and their investors on matters such as choice of entity; entity formation and dissolution; purchases and sales of businesses; federal, state and local tax planning; buy-sell agreements; and general contract negotiations and drafting.

Real Estate

Leor’s real estate practice focuses on various aspects of transactional real estate law, including the acquisition, and sale of multi-family and commercial properties. He uses his tax background to advise on tax deferred 1031 exchanges and California property tax.

Education and Background

Leor received his B.A. in Business Economics from UCLA and his J.D. and LLM in Taxation (with High Distinction) from Loyola Law School. Prior to law school, Leor worked as a CPA at PwC. He has been recognized as a Rising Star by California Super Lawyers® (2019-2023) and remains active with the American Academy of Attorney-CPAs (“AAA-CPA”) where he serves as Vice President of the Southern California Chapter. He has spoken at various AAA-CPA and Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (“STEP”) events on tax and estate planning matters and has also contributed to the Amicus Brief on behalf of the AAA-CPA in support of the respondents in the South Dakota v Wayfair, Overstock, & Newegg case before the US Supreme Court.

In his free time, Leor likes to spend time with his wife and son, hike, play tennis, bake sourdough bread, and play guitar.