Douglas Stanley

Douglas (Doug) Stanley is a partner at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP and counsels and advises clients, including high net-worth individuals, professionals and entrepreneurs, on a wide range of sophisticated estate planning, tax and fiduciary matters. His broad practice includes estate planning and administration as well as income tax planning, with a particular emphasis in the areas of wealth transfer tax planning and wealth transfer strategies. Mr. Stanley has experience in individual estate administration, closely-held business succession planning, asset protection and tax financial planning.

As co-leader of the firm’s Fiduciary Litigation Team, a significant portion of Mr. Stanley’s practice is dedicated to fiduciary conflict resolution and tax controversy work, including representation of clients in trust and estate administration disputes in local courts, during IRS audits and in the U.S. Tax Court. Mr. Stanley is a member of the Fiduciary Litigation Committee of ACTEC. He is frequently called upon to speak on fiduciary topics throughout the United States and has been quoted or featured by The Wall Street Journal, CNN and Financial Planning. Mr. Stanley is currently an adjunct professor in Tax at Washington University School of Law and a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel.

Mr. Stanley has developed many detailed and specialized estate plans which have included revocable trusts, qualified personal residence trusts, grantor retained annuity trusts, partnerships, limited liability companies, irrevocable defective grantor trusts, and private annuities. Additionally, he has experience with life insurance trusts, retirement account analysis, planning for non-U.S. citizens, charitable trusts, foundations and other charitable planning. Mr. Stanley routinely negotiates and prepares premarital and postmarital agreements to coordinate with an individual’s estate planning goals. Prior to law school, Mr. Stanley practiced as a CPA with an international accounting firm.