Steven A. Benefield, Esq.
PRACTICE AREAS
EDUCATION
Steven Benefield’s practice is client-focused and solutions-oriented. Whether working with individuals who need basic estate or tax planning, or advising small to middle-market business owners on succession and exit planning strategies, Steven tailors his services to each client’s needs and deadlines.
For Steven, the best part of Christian & Small is working with thoughtful, intelligent and wise lawyers and staff. Steven’s team members gladly provide time and insight to create the best solutions for the client, within the budget and time allowed. Clients have situations that require elegant solutions. Christian & Small delivers those solutions.
REPRESENTATIVE EXPERIENCE
- Led negotiation and analysis for $126 million business recapitalization.
- Planned estates for multiple clients to completely avoid estate and generation skipping tax.
- Directed post mortem tax planning for estate to avoid accelerated distribution of retirement plan proceeds.
- Advised trustees and executors of a large estate left by a client who died in 2010 through the major transitions in tax law with the temporary repeal of the estate tax and imposition of the income tax at death.
- Advised clients in planning estates in the major transition of the temporary repeal of the estate tax and generation skipping taxes, the one-year income tax at death in 2010, and the reappearance of the estate and generation skipping taxes in 2011.
PROFESSIONAL AND COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
- American College of Trust & Estate Counsel, Fellow
- Alliance of Merger & Acquisition Advisors® (AM&AA): Certified Merger & Acquisition Advisor (CM&AA)
- Expert Trial Witness (regarding legal standards of practice for attorneys handling business, estate and trust matters)
- Estate Planning Council of Birmingham: Member
- American Bar Association (ABA): Member, Tax, Business, Real Property and Probate Sections; Center for Professional Responsibility
- Birmingham Bar Association: Grievance Committee Member 1985-1995; Chairman, 1995
- Alabama Supreme Court Commission on Dispute Resolution; Chair, 2000-2002
- Registered General and Appellate Mediator in state and federal courts
- Christian & Small LLP: Managing Partner, 2000-2004
- Law Clerk for the Honorable James H. Hancock, United States District Court, Northern District of Alabama, 1983-1984
- Boy Scouts of America: Greater Alabama Council Executive Board; Vulcan District Committee; Crew Advisor Ship 1; Recipient of Silver Beaver and District Award of Merit.
- First United Methodist Church of Birmingham: Trustee; Past Chairman of the Administrative Board; Counsel.
AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
- AV® Preeminent Peer Review Rating from Martindale-Hubbell*
- Included in The Best Lawyers in America® (2006-2011) in the field of tax.
PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS
- Speaker at the Alliance of Merger & Acquisition Advisors Seminar: Getting to 8x and Beyond – How Are High Multiple Transactions Created in Good Markets and Bad? (July 26, 2009).
- “No Plan for the Succession of Your Business? Plan for the Business to Fail,” in Family and Business Succession Planning Strategies: Leading Lawyers on Navigating Key Tax Issues, Dealing with Family Concerns, and Avoiding Potential Pitfalls for Closely-Held Businesses, 51 (2009).
- Speaker and Author at numerous Continuing Legal Education (CLE) seminars on business formation, business exit strategy planning, estate planning and administration, ethics, professional liability and related matters.
ADMISSIONS
Practicing: Business Formation, Business Operations, Business Litigation, Business Estate Planning, Charitable Trusts and Foundations, Tax Exempt Organizations, Federal Estate and Gift Taxation, Trusts and Estates Taxation, Estate Administration, Estate Litigation, Estate Planning, Civil Litigation
