Overview
Anna Gibson is the Trusts and Estates Practice Group leader in the firm's Lansing office. Her practice focuses on helping families achieve their unique estate planning goals and making the process of incapacity or death easier for their loved ones. This could include use of a will, trust, joint ownership, beneficiary designations, powers of attorney, patient advocates, funeral representatives or other documents.
Anna excels in counseling on both simple and complex situations. These include planning for families with young children, planning techniques for retirement benefits and life insurance, trusts, international estate planning, federal estate and gift tax planning, charitable planned giving, probate and trust administration, asset protection, planning for blended families, as well as succession planning or family businesses.
After graduating first in her class at Ave Maria Law School, Anna went on to earn her ICLE Probate and Estate Planning Certificate as well as her Society of Trust and Estates Practitioners (STEP) Certificate in Foundations.
Honors & Recognitions
Best Lawyers in America® 2013-2020 (Trusts and Estates)
Tax Student Achievement Award, State Bar of Michigan 2008
Ave Maria Law Review
- Associate Editor, 2006-2007
- Executive Articles Editor, 2007-2008
Affiliations
Memberships & Affiliations
Legal Affiliations:
- American Bar Association
- Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section
- Society of Trust and Estate Planning Professionals Student Membership
- State Bar of Michigan
Industry & Professional Associations:
- Elder Law of Michigan, Board of Directors
- Greater Lansing Estate Planning Council (GLEPC)
Experience
Representative Matters
- Performed complex tax analysis, including retirement benefit minimum required distribution and split dollar insurance plans, to generate substantial estate, gift, and income tax savings for clients.
- Created complex trusts to generate income and estate tax savings, including Grantor Returned Annuity Trusts, Irrevocable Life Insurance trusts, Retirement Benefit Trusts, and Generation Skipping Transfer Tax Trusts.
- Helped young families plan for the care and custody of minors if something were to happen to both parents.
- Established guardianship for care of a minor and incapacitated individuals when no or incomplete estate planning had been done.
Communications
Publications
- The 2012 Federal Estate And Gift Tax: Problem and Opportunity, Foster Swift Estate Planning Insights, Summer 2012
- Common Estate Planning Pitfalls, Foster Swift Estate Planning Insights, Fall 2010
- Protecting Your Child’s Inheritance, Foster Swift Estate Planning Insights, Fall 2010
- Roth IRA’s, Estate Planning, and the 2010 Conversion, Foster Swift Estate Planning Insights, Winter 2009
- The 2009 Economy, No. 2: Tenancy by the Entirety Property - As An Asset Protection Device, Foster Swift Estate & Business Planning Alert, May 2009
- 2009 Changes in Estate and Gift Tax, Foster Swift Health Care Law Report, April 2009
News & Events
News
- 42 Foster Swift Attorneys Listed as Best Lawyers® 2020, August 15, 2019
- Foster Swift Announces Women in Leadership, Michigan Business Network, June 5, 2019
- 45 Foster Swift Attorneys Listed in Best Lawyers in America© 2019, August 15, 2018
- 46 Foster Swift Attorneys Named to 2018 Best Lawyers in America®, August 21, 2017
- Foster Swift Elects Seven New Shareholders, January 18, 2017
- 44 Foster Swift Attorneys Named to 2016 Best Lawyers in America® Roster, August 21, 2015
- 45 Foster Swift attorneys named to 2015 Best Lawyers in America® roster, August 19, 2014
Practice Areas
Education
Ave Maria School of Law, J.D., 2008, summa cum laude
University of Michigan B.A., 2004, Business Administration, with honors
Bar and Court Admissions
Michigan
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan