Partner
Taylor
Bechel
Legal Assistant
Taylor is a partner in Berg Hill’s Private Client Services group. Her practice focuses on advising individuals and families on estate planning, probate, estate administration, and trust administration. Her extensive tax background allows her to advise clients on the most effective ways to minimize income, gift, estate, and generation-skipping transfer taxes during life or after death. Taylor can assist with a wide variety of trust and estate matters, from establishing a basic estate plan to advising on sophisticated tax-saving strategies for high-net-worth individuals. She aims to be your trusted advisor to help you achieve your goals without unnecessary complications, expense, or delay.
Prior to joining Berg Hill, Taylor spent ten years practicing high-net-worth estate and trust law at two AmLaw 100 national law firms. During law school, she served as an extern at the IRS Office of Chief Counsel in Washington, DC, and prepared pro bono income tax returns for low-income taxpayers for the IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program.
Taylor (formerly Taylor Perodeau) received her J.D. with Emphasis in Taxation from the University of Colorado Law School in 2011. She received her LL.M. in Taxation and Certificate in Estate Planning with distinction from Georgetown University Law Center in 2012. She is admitted to practice in Colorado, Florida, the District of Columbia, and before the US Tax Court. She is a member of the Boulder County Estate Planning Council, Rocky Mountain Estate Planning Council, Colorado Planned Giving Roundtable, and the American Bar Association’s Section of Real Property, Trust and Estate Law.
Taylor lives in Denver with her husband, who is also a tax attorney, and young son.
Experience
Estate Planning
Taylor offers both will-based and revocable-trust-based estate planning packages for individuals and couples. She guides and educates clients through the estate planning process to create customized wills, revocable trusts, financial and medical powers of attorney for incapacity, and more. She also advises on beneficiary designations for life insurance and retirement assets, retitling assets for probate avoidance at death, and compliance with prenuptial and divorce settlement agreements in a client’s estate plan.
For clients with large or complex estates, Taylor can incorporate a variety of advanced estate and tax planning vehicles. For example, she can advise on lifetime gifting and the creation of irrevocable trusts and closely held business entities, including, but not limited to, family limited partnerships (FLPs), limited liability companies (LLCs), intentionally defective grantor trusts (IDGTs), generation-skipping dynasty trusts, irrevocable life insurance trusts (ILITs), grantor retained annuity trusts (GRATs), qualified personal residence trusts (QPRTs), annual exclusion gift trusts, special needs trusts for incapacitated or disabled beneficiaries, domestic asset protection trusts (DAPTs), qualified domestic trusts for non-citizens (QDOTs), charitable lead trusts (CLTs), charitable remainder trusts (CRTs), and more.
Probate and Estate Administration
Taylor has considerable experience helping clients navigate the transfer of assets after a loved one’s death through the processes of probate, estate administration, and revocable trust administration. She can ensure the probate and estate administration process goes smoothly and protects the personal representative or trustee from potential litigation. She also represents heirs and beneficiaries who want to be sure that their interests are protected in the estate administration process. In addition, Taylor can advise on post-mortem tax planning and frequently prepares federal and state estate tax returns.
Trust Administration
Taylor has in-depth knowledge of all types of trusts which allows her to advise trustees and beneficiaries on trust administration and compliance, selection, appointment and removal of trustees, and federal and state income taxation of trusts. She can advise trustees on their fiduciary duties to avoid being sued and advise beneficiaries on their rights to distributions, notices, and information about their trusts. Further, Taylor can assist with amending or modifying existing trusts that no longer serve a family’s goals through judicial reformation, non-judicial settlement agreements, trust decanting, trust mergers, trust divisions, and trust terminations. She also prepares federal gift tax returns to report transfers to irrevocable trusts.
EDUCATION & ADMISSIONS
JURIS DOCTOR
UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO LAW SCHOOL, 2011
MASTERS IN TAXATION
GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY LAW CENTER, 2012
BACHELOR OF ART
FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY 2008
Colorado
District of Columbia
Professional Associations
Rocky Mountain Estate Planning Council
Colorado Planned Giving Roundtable
Colorado Bar Association
American Bar Association, Sections of Taxation and Real Property, Trust and Estate Law
Honors & Awards
Chambers and Partners HNW: Private Wealth Law, Associate to Watch, 2021
Publications & Speeches
Special Valuation Rules of Sections 2701-2704 of the Internal Revenue Code, Colorado Estate Planning Handbook; 2018-2021 Editions
The New Paradigm: Wealth Transfer Planning During an Economic Downturn, 2020
Electronic Wills: Some States Allow Them, But Not Yet Colorado, Law Week Colorado, 2017
Back to Basics: The Federal Estate Tax Return, DC Bar Presentation, 2015
Top 10 Revenue Rulings Every Estate Planner Should Know, ABA Webinar and DC Bar Presentation, 2015
Introduction to Estate Planning, Family Services, Ind. Presentation, 2014
The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, https://www.venable.com/the-american-taxpayer-relief-act-of-2012/, 2012
Taylor’s Blog
Client Alert: Likely Tax Law Changes Aimed at High/Ultra High Net Worth Individuals
Yesterday, Monday, September 13, 2021, morning the House of Democrats released the details of their tax increase proposals. The House Way and Means Committee plans to vote this week on the proposals. A link to the text of the proposals is here. The proposals are in...
Legal Insight: What To Do When A Loved One Dies
When a loved one dies, it is important to know what to do and what not to do. Much of it will depend on whether your loved one had a Last Will and Testament or a Revocable Trust and how the deceased person’s assets are titled at the time of death, since assets can be...
Legal Insight: What is Probate
What is Probate? Probate is a legal proceeding whereby a court appoints a personal representative to administer the estate of a deceased person (the “decedent”). However, not everyone who dies has their estate go through probate. So how do you know if a decedent’s...
In the News
Merritt Named Co-Chair of the Firm’s Trusts, Estates, Probate, and Tax Practice
Shelly Merritt, a partner at Berg Hill Greenleaf Ruscitti, has been named the co-chair of the Firm's Trust, Estates, Probate, and Tax Practice. Merritt has over thirty years of experience representing individuals, families, closely-held businesses, executives, and...
BHGR Introduces the Women’s Leadership Committee
Just in time for Women's History Month, Berg Hill Greenleaf Ruscitti LLP formed and formally introduced the BHGR Women's Leadership Committee. The Women's Leadership Committee is comprised of sixteen female attorneys and was established to recognize and cultivate a...
BHGR Partnership Expands with 2023 Elections
The Berg Hill Greenleaf Ruscitti partnership gathered at our Boulder office on January 31, 2023. In that meeting, attorneys Geoff Williamson and Benjamin Wilson were elected Equity Partners, and Elizabeth Froehlke and DJ Goldfarb were elected Non-Equity Partners,...
Firm Happenings
Updates in California Employment Law: Additional Requirements for Pay Data Reporting and Pay Transparency
Updates in California Employment Law: Additional Requirements for Pay Data Reporting and Pay Transparency On September 27, 2022, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Senate Bill 1162 ("SB 1162"), expanding California's data reporting requirements under Government...
Client Alert: What Employers Must Convey Upon Employee Termination or Separation
Colorado's most recent legislative session, concluding in early May, pushed through several new employment-related laws that concern employers and employees alike. Senate Bill (SB) 22-234 should be of particular interest to employers, as it requires employers to...
Client Alert: Colorado Places New Restrictions on Non-Compete Agreements Between Employers and their Employees
Colorado has long disfavored non-compete agreements within the state. Historically, under C.R.S. § 8-2-113, restrictive covenants were void and unenforceable except for under specific circumstances, including: the purchase and sale of a business or the assets of a...