Eric R. Bardwell

Eric R. Bardwell is a Partner in the Orange County office and is a member of the Firm's Trusts and Estates department with almost two decades of experience. Eric's practice focuses on all aspects of wealth transfer planning, including estate planning, tax planning, charitable planning, business succession planning and post-death administration.

Eric routinely assists individuals and families in efficiently minimizing estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer taxes through the creation of wills, trusts, business entities and charitable organizations and the use of gifts, sales and other wealth-transfer strategies. He works closely with each client's team of advisors, including accountants, investment advisors and insurance agents, to ensure the client's personal planning and wealth preservation goals are accomplished in a coordinated manner. In addition, he advises clients on estate and trust administration, probate administration and the preparation of gift and estate tax returns. Eric has been designated as a Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate law by the State Bar of California, Board of Legal Specialization.

In 2014 through 2022, he was named among the list of Southern California Rising Stars by Super Lawyers Magazine. Only 2.5% of the attorneys under age 40 in Southern California are selected for this honor. In 2019 through 2022, Eric received additional recognition by being named in the top 25 lawyers under 40 in Orange County by Super Lawyers Magazine. He has been listed in the Private Wealth Law Section of Chambers High Net Worth Guide since 2021. JMBM's Trusts & Estates Group is recognized by U.S. News & World Report / Best Law Firms® with a National First Tier ranking in Trusts & Estates Law. 

While in law school, Eric served as a judicial extern to the Honorable Gary Allen Feess in the United States District Court for the Central District of California and as Literary Editor for the Pepperdine Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law.

Representative Experience

• Represented an estate valued at $400 million in a complex estate tax audit involving a multigenerational family business which was sold during the audit.
• Designed and implemented a family office framework for a third-generation family business following a liquidity event to meet the family’s long-term governance and tax planning needs.
• Restructured California grantor trusts into Delaware non-grantor trusts, mitigating state income tax burdens and enabling the stacking of Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS) benefits—resulting in over $40 million in income tax savings.
• Advised the founder and sole owner of a billion-dollar business to unwind and restructure misaligned asset protection planning, replacing prior advisors as trustees and protectors, realigning governance with client objectives, and preparing a mock estate tax return to anticipate future reporting requirements.
• Identified and implemented a late Generation-Skipping Transfer (GST) allocation ahead of a revaluation event, preserving tax advantages for the client.
• Administered trusts of all sizes in trust administrations with experience representing both the Trustee and beneficiaries.
• Represented several high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals in creation and trust administration of a variety of trust types focused on strategic tax planning, including:
• Dynasty trusts (Delaware, Nevada, South Dakota, Wyoming, etc.)
• Grantor retained annuity trusts (GRATs)
• Intentionally defective grantor trusts (IDGTs)
• Qualified terminable interest property trusts (QTIP)
• Charitable remainder annuity/unitrusts (CRATs/CRUTs)
• Charitable lead annuity/unitrusts (CLATs/CLUTs)
• Irrevocable life insurance trusts (ILITs)
• Spousal lifetime access non-grantor trusts (SLANTs)
• Spousal lifetime access trusts (SLATs)
• Qualified personal residence trusts (QPRTs)