Jonathon M. Morrison

A Senior Partner at Frazer Ryan Goldberg & Arnold LLP (Phoenix), Jonathon Morrison’s practice is focused on tax, business and estate planning for clients with large or complex estates. Jonathon Morrison is licensed in both Arizona and California and is a Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law in California.

After a decade practicing with preeminent estate planning law firms in Silicon Valley, Jonathon gained a mastery of virtually every estate and tax planning strategy in existence. With his unique background, Jonathon enjoys a reputation for developing advanced estate planning solutions for high income and high net worth clients whose objectives include income tax and estate tax minimization, charitable and philanthropic giving, business exit and succession planning, and asset protection.

Jonathon is also a frequent speaker and nationally recognized expert with respect to a specific type of charitable vehicle: the “charitable lead annuity trust” (CLAT). Jonathon is routinely engaged by clients, advisors and attorneys around the country to implement and provide advice with respect to CLAT planning.

Finally, Jonathon and his California-licensed partners represent clients and serve as co-counsel to attorneys with respect to California-specific matters, including California Proposition 13 real property tax, California real property transfers, California probate and trust administrations, and California income tax issues.

Professional Background. Before relocating to his hometown of Phoenix in 2015 to raise children near his family, Jonathon worked with Silicon Valley’s two largest estate planning law firms – most notably, the personal tax planning group associated with the preeminent venture capital law firm, Wilson Sonsini, which led IPOs for virtually every major Silicon Valley-based company, including Apple, Google, Amazon, Tesla, Twitter, LinkedIn, Netflix, Pandora, and GoDaddy. During this time, Jonathon served as a trusted advisor to hundreds of the wealthiest individuals in the world, including founders, C-level executives, “Midas List” venture capitalists, and angel investors associated with many of the top tech companies.

Equipped with sophisticated tax and estate planning knowledge that is unique to the Arizona legal community, Jonathon quickly distinguished himself after his return to the Valley as one of the Phoenix area’s premier tax and estate planners.

Jonathon has personally architected and implemented over 300 tax planning transactions using one or more of the following advanced planning strategies:

• Generation-skipping dynasty trusts (GST trusts)
• Charitable remainder trusts (CRTs)
• Charitable lead trusts (CLATs)
• Spousal life access trusts (SLATs)
• Family limited partnerships (FLPs)
• Sales to intentionally defective grantor trusts (IDGTs)
• Grantor retained annuity trusts (GRATs)
• Irrevocable life insurance trusts (ILITs)
• Qualified personal residence trusts (QPRTs)
• Nevada incomplete non-grantor trusts (NING trusts)
• Asset protection trusts (APTs), self-settled and non-self-settled
• 678 Trusts, Beneficiary Defective Inheritors Trusts (BDITs), and “MegaTrusts” (limited to review, analysis and administration; not creation)

Representative clients include:

• Founders, executives, and owners of private and public companies
• Private equity, venture capitalists, angel investors and entrepreneurs
• Developers, syndicators and real estate investors
• Physicians, attorneys, accountants, executives, and other professionals
• Philanthropists

Legal Services in Detail

• Estate Planning
• Charitable and Philanthropic Giving
• California “Prop 13” Real Property Tax Planning
• Modification of Irrevocable Trusts
• Business Formation and Succession
• International Estate Planning
• Estate and Trust Administration
• Estate and Trust Litigation

Personal. Outside of the office, Jonathon treasures his time with his adorable wife, their two young children, and their miniature dachshund Lilly. Jonathon is also a performance car enthusiast who enjoys attending Cars & Coffee and participating in autocross and high-performance driving events on the racetrack.