Emily Leazer focuses her practice on tax, corporate and estate issues. Emily has over 20 years of experience working closely with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), North Carolina Department of Revenue and other taxing officials solving clients’ tax controversies.
Emily represents individuals, business entities, owners and executives, fiduciaries and beneficiaries of trusts and estates, and nonprofit entities with any type of federal or state estate and gift tax issues. She also represents all clients in civil and criminal tax audits and appeals before the IRS and North Carolina Department of Revenue, before local and federal tax officials, and in both federal and state courts.
Emily also assists with the formation, operational needs, succession and dissolution plans of various entities. She helps individuals with the decision on what entity is best for them, whether it is a sole-proprietorship, limited liability company (LLC), Subchapter S corporation, or a C corporation. She assists with all the formation needs so that a client is prepared to start operating without the worries of what to do. Further, she is there to assist the entities and executives with any operational needs such as reviewing and drafting of leases, customer and supplier contracts, and any general need of the entity. Finally, Emily advises on how to successfully develop a succession plan for entities, whether it is planning to transfer a business to the next generation, market it for sale, or dissolve the entity. Emily works closely with financial planners, accountants, and Certified Public Accountants (CPA) to develop the best plans for the client.
In her estate practice, Emily assists individuals, couples and families with planning and administering an estate. She will help with the drafting of wills, power of attorneys, living wills, guardian letters, health care power of attorneys and HIPAA releases. She will review the needs of an individual or family with the client and determine if there is a need for tax planning and how to structure a plan that will transfer the assets to the next generation or charity the client desires. She also helps with the probate and administration process of an estate. Emily will guide a fiduciary of an estate through the entire probate process including the filing of estate and gift tax returns. She further assists with elder law and medicaid planning.
Emily graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a BS in business administration, then received a joint law degree (juris doctor – JD) and Master in Business (MBA) from Campbell University. Emily also received a Master in Tax Law (LLM – Taxation) from Villanova University. She also holds a certified public accounting license.
Professional Affiliations
- Gaston County Bar Association
- North Carolina Bar Association
- American Bar Association — Taxation Section, Elder Law Section and Wills & Estates Section
- North Carolina Bar Tax Council
- North Carolina Association of Certified Public Accountants
- American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
- Named a 2010 Legal Elite Lawyer for Tax/Estate Planning by the North Carolina Business Journal
Community Involvement
- Alliance For Children and Youth of Gaston County (Treasurer 2005-2013)
- Junior League of Gaston County (President 2003-2004, Treasurer 2000-2002, Sec. 2002)
- Town of Cramerton Historical Society
- Board member of Crisis Assistance Ministry
- Gaston Gators Swim Team Board (President 2015-2017)
- Board Member of the Gaston County Education Foundation (Treasurer 2019-)
- Stuart Cramer High School Academic Booster Club (Treasurer 2019-2020)
- First United Methodist Church of Gastonia (Board of Trustees 2017-2019)
