Donald H. Read - Lakin Spears, LLP

Contact Information:
650-328-7000 ext. 133
dread@well.com

Practice Areas:
Business & Real Estate
Family Law
Estate Planning
Taxation

Education:
B.A., University of California at Berkeley, 1964
J. D., Columbia University, 1968
L.L.M. (Tax), New York University, 1972

Professional &
Community Affiliations:
American Bar Association,
Family Law Section
(Chair Taxation Committee)
Taxation Section
Washington State Bar Association
Hawaii Bar Association
East Bay Tax Club

Donald H. Read

Donald H. Read is a certified tax law specialist who emphasizes tax aspects of marital dissolutions in his broad tax practice. He has been named a Northern California SuperLawyer for 2008 and 2009 and is chair of the Taxation Committee of the Family Law Section of the American Bar Association.

Don has served as Tax Counsel to LAKIN SPEARS since 1987. In the mid-1970’s, he was an attorney-advisor in the United States Treasury Department’s Office of Tax Legislative Counsel, and in the late 1980's he was an adjunct professor at USF School of Law. Don provides tax law support to each of our practice groups and is particularly active in the family law tax area.

Don served as vice-chair of the Domestic Relations Committee of the ABA Taxation Section and represented the Section in the development of Revenue Ruling 2002-22 (division of stock options on divorce). He also represented the taxpayers in PLR 1994-27-009 (stock redemptions on divorce), PLR 2004-42-003 (buyout of nonqualified deferred compensation after divorce), PLR 2005-19-011 (division of community property stock options on divorce) and PLR 2007-37-009 (divison of incentive stock options on divorce). He has been actively involved in tax issues of California registered domestic partners and same sex spouses. He is a frequent speaker to county bar association family law sections, the Association of Certified Family Law Specialists, the California Society of Certified Public Accountants and California Continuing Education of the Bar. For more information on Mr. Read's divorce-related tax practice see www.dissotax.com.

In the business and real estate area, Mr. Read recently represented the taxpayers in PLR 2007-30-002 (related party section 1031 tax-free exchange) and in PLR 2007-38-009 (partnership section 754 election). In the estate planning area, Don represented the taxpayer in PLR 2009-32-040, and two 2010 private rulings, all involving reformation of charitable remainder unitrusts.