Karina M. Thomas
Karina Thomas associated with the firm in 1999, and was named a Shareholder and a Director in 2003. Ms. Thomas focuses her services on estate and business planning, preparation of wills and trusts, trust administration, and probate. In the planning area, she works with individuals and family businesses to develop strategies for the efficient transfer of assets to family members and other intended beneficiaries at the client's death. These strategies might employ the use of revocable trusts, special needs trusts, gifting trusts, other irrevocable grantor and non-grantor trusts, charitable trusts, and trusts for insurance policies and residences.
Ms. Thomas also helps clients to sell and transition the ownership of client-owned business entities to key employees, children and third-party buyers through the preparation of shareholder agreements, options plans, buy-sell agreements, purchase and sale contracts, and employment and independent contractor agreements, among others.
In the trust administration and probate area, Ms. Thomas assists clients with the responsibilities and challenges of acting as the personal representative or trustee of a deceased family member's estate, including the court probate process, reporting to other named beneficiaries, and the preparation of estate tax returns. In other instances, she helps clients who are legal heirs of an estate to assert their rights to the deceased family member's assets and information about the administration process. Prior to her association with Schafer|Thomas, PC, Ms. Thomas practiced environmental law for more than six years, primarily representing small business clients with litigation and transaction matters involving contaminated properties.
Ms. Thomas has written and lectured on a wide variety of topics relevant to her current and former practices. She has also attended numerous prestigious conferences and seminars over the past several years presented by nationally known speakers and recognized experts to hone her skills in all aspects of estate and tax planning. She is a member of several professional associations and is admitted to practice before all state courts in Colorado, and several federal courts in Denver and Washington, D.C.
Ms. Thomas earned her Bachelor of Arts degree with honors from Colgate University in 1984, and her Juris Doctorate law degree cum laude from Albany Law School at Union College in 1992. She currently serves as a board member for Ballet Nouveau, a professional dance company with a school and outreach program. She is an avid mountain biker, sailor and skier.
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