Patricia Galteri Cited For Excellence by Five Star Professionals

Media Source: Kings Park Patch, Nassau Lawyer

Patricia Galteri, Chair of the Wills, Trusts & Estates Practice at Meyer, Suozzi, English & Klein P.C. in Garden City has been cited for excellence by Five Star Professional for her work with high-net worth clients. According to Five Star Professional, 1300 attorneys in the metropolitan area were considered for the recognition and just 333 were nominated by peers or other professionals. Of those, only nine, less than 1% were selected to receive the award. Eligible professionals include estate planning attorneys, financial advisors and planners and certified public accountants.

The Five Star Professional award program is the largest and most widely published award program in the financial services industry. Award candidates are identified through peer nomination, firm nomination or by a pre-screening process. Self-nominations are not accepted. Candidates are evaluated against 10 objective criteria, including education and professional designations, and a thorough regulatory and grievance review.

The final lists of 2014 New York City Five Star Estate Planning Attorneys, Wealth Managers, and Certified Public Accountants will be published in a special section of the January 2014 issue of New York magazine and on Five Star Professional's website.

'For award winners, there is no greater distinction than being recognized for their hard work and dedication to their clients,' stated Mike Miner, Five Star Professional vice president of marketing and business development.

Ms. Galteri’s practice includes the development of estate and family business plans to ensure the tax efficient transfer of wealth to the next generation while meeting the specific personal goals of her clients. She implements such plans through the use of wills and grantor trusts, irrevocable life insurance trusts, generation skipping trusts, grantor retained annuity trusts and other arrangements designed to transfer property at little or reduced gift tax cost to selected beneficiaries. Nomination of agents under Powers of Attorneys and Health Care Proxies also play an important role in effecting her clients’ intentions.

In addition, Ms. Galteri supervises the preparation of probate and administration documents, provides advice in the marshaling and preservation of estate assets, and she is knowledgeable in all aspects of estate administration and post-mortem estate tax planning. Her in-depth knowledge of the preparation of federal and state estate tax returns enables her to defend positions on gift and estate tax returns under audit. Ms. Galteri is called upon to appear in Surrogate’s Court to provide counsel to fiduciaries and beneficiaries, in the interpretation of ambiguities in wills and trusts in construction proceedings and to participate in contested probate and accounting proceedings.

In 2012, Ms. Galteri was recognized as one of Long Island’s Top 50 Influential Professional Women by Long Island Business News and was recognized for her pro bono efforts on behalf of the Coalition Against Domestic Violence. She is also rated 'AV Preeminent' by Martindale-Hubbell, the highest level in professional excellence, and she was recognized by Long Island Pulse Magazine in 2010 and 2011 as one of the region's 'Top Legal Eagles.' Ms. Galteri is Chair of the Board of Advisors of the Long Island Community Foundation, an organization that addresses critical needs in Long Island communities by making grants to organizations found to respond to such needs efficiently.