New York Attorney
Kathleen M. Galgano has been a member of the Firm for some 20 years, concentrating on Estate Planning; Estate Administration; Estate & Gift Taxes; Business Succession Planning; Elder Care; Taxation & Audits; Bank Lending; Corporate and Bankruptcy matters.
In her Estate Planning & Business Succession Planning practice, she has considerable experience in sophisticated planning and implementing intricate strategies, which involve drafting tailored, complex documents, such as: Wills, Trusts (Revocable & Irrevocable), Powers of Attorney and Health Care Proxies. She incorporate Gift Tax Discount strategies in tailored Operating Agreements (and other similar agreements). The Myriad of different Trusts available include: QPIRT, QTIP, GRATs, GRUTs and more. Typical clients for these professional services are middle to high net worth individuals, banks and other financial institutions, investment advisors, trust companies, consultants and corporations.
In her considerable Elder Care experience she seeks to qualify her Clients for appropriate available Medicaid/Medicare benefits and advises on use, residency, eligibility of resources and income, asset transfers and look back periods. She integrates her Elder Care planning with her overall Estate Planning and drafts the appropriate documents including: Medicaid/Medicare Applications, Qualifying Trusts, spousal refusals, Waiver of Right of Election, Powers of Attorney’s, Health Care Proxies and more.
She is a leader in the Firm’s Estate Administration group, where she has substantial experience in all phases of administering Estates and Trusts, post-mortem planning and the sale, where appropriate, of various asset classes (business, real estate etc.).
In the Estate Administration process, she utilizes her experience in Estate & Gift Taxes and Taxation & Audits. She prepares Gift Tax Returns and simple to complicated Estate Tax Returns and has conducted numerous IRS and New York State audits and appeals. She has many successful results in negotiating such Audits, which often relate to asset value, asset includability, expenses, debt and other asset and business issues.
Corporate and Business Transactions Practice: Prior to law school, Ms. Galgano had considerable experience as a Special Projects Director, to the President of a public company in the Corporate area, including general corporate governance, recapitalizations, redemptions, liquidations, dissolutions and a variety of organizing and ongoing corporate and commercial agreements; as well as Federal Securities Law matters, such as, the filing requirements for employee benefit plans, Registration and Exemptions, including Rule 144. She has also worked directly with the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with public offerings, the drafting and approval of a prospectus, coordinating underwriters and preparing corporate executives for meetings with securities firms.
Bank Lending: Ms. Galgano has substantial experience in the Firm’s Bank Lending group, representing commercial banks and savings banks various commercial loan transactions (i.e. mortgages, credit lines, term loans, IDA/SBA Loans, etc.), restructuring and work-out matters. Such transactions include all types and complexity of specifically tailored loan documents. She audited existing loan documents and developed prototype lending forms for two major commercial banks. Her Creditors’ Rights and Corporate experience has proved invaluable in the Bank Lending practice.
Bankruptcy, Creditor’s Rights: In Law School, Ms. Galgano clerked for Judge Conrad B. Duburstein, Chief Judge of the United States Bankruptcy Court, Eastern District of New York, where she was involved in a wide variety of Bankruptcy, Creditor, Corporate and Banking issues and assisted in drafting opinions of the Court. She was fortunate in having the Chief Judge act as personal mentor in the bankruptcy area. This judicial experience helped develop a considerable understanding of Bankruptcy and creditors rights matters from the court’s perspective.
Upon admission to practice, Ms. Galgano worked in the Bankruptcy and Creditors’ Rights Department of the prestigious firm of Shea & Gould. She represented Trustees and large corporate and banking creditors, as well as corporate and individual debtors in Chapter 7, 11 and 13 cases, in the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.
Professional Associations
- American Bar Association: Bankruptcy, Creditor’s Rights, Estates & Trust Committees
- New York State Bar Association, Trust & Estates and Tax Committees
- Nassau County Bar Association, Trust & Estates and Tax, Elder Law Committees
- The Association of the Bar of the City of New York, Creditor’s Rights Committee
- Bankruptcy and Credit Rights Committee
Court Admissions
- New York
- Bankruptcy & Federal District Courts
Education
- Rosemont College, B.A., English & Communications
- St. John’s University School of Law, J.D.
- Staff of General Legal Commentary, authored Articles on Securities & Exchange Commission Regulations of Corporate Takeovers
- Specialized Law School Activities:
- Advanced Securities Law Regulations
- Bankruptcy & Creditor’s Rights
- Moot Court Competition Finalist
