Senior Attorney Estate Planning and Probate

Rebecca Gardner received her Juris Doctorate from the Universtiy of California, Davis, King Hall School of Law in 2003, spent a summer abroad as a scholar with the National University of Ireland, Galway, Irish Centre for Human Rights and graduatedsumma cum laude from California State University, Sacramento in 1999.  Previously with McDonough Holland & Allen PC, Rebecca joined The Burton Law Firm in September 2010 and has extensive experience assisting clients in wealth transfer, business and tax planning, and contested matters involving trust and estates.  Rebecca’s practice focuses on general and complex estate planning, post-death trust and probate administration and business planning involving family partnerships, limited liability companies, and other business entities. Some of Rebecca’s favorite matters have included establishment of a charitable remainder trust to hold a client’s extensive art collection, obtaining court approval to dissolve a trust that resulted from elder financial abuse, petitioning the court for substituted judgment to establish a joint estate plan for a couple after the wife was deemed to lack capacity due to mental illness, and representing a family in goal-setting following receipt of substantial inheritance assets.  In addition to her practice, Rebecca is an active member of various community and professional organizations.  She is a Director and current President of the Sacramento State Alumni Association, a Member of the Crocker Art Museum’s Planned Giving Committee, a Member of the Sacramento Area Special Needs Trust Study Group, a Founding Member of Professionals in Estate Planning, a past Director of the Sacramento Estate Planning Council, and a Lifetime Member of the Girl Scouts of the USA.  While in law school, Rebecca clerked for the California Attorney General, Public Rights Division; the Legislative Counsel Bureau and the Republican Assembly Caucus Office of Redistricting.  Rebecca also served as managing editor of the Journal of Juvenile Law and Policy and earned a King Hall Pro Bono Certificate.  A past winner of the CSUS State Hornet Rookie Sports Reporter of the Year Award for her coverage of the Sac State football team, Rebecca still enjoys writing.  She has authored a number of professional publications including “The Death of the California Compassionate Choices Act:  Will Californians Ever Receive the Right to Die?,” California Trusts and Estates Quarterly, Summer 2008 and enjoys speaking to various groups on topics ranging from basic estate planning and charitable giving to legal writing and art law.  In her spare time, Rebecca enjoys hiking, camping, planning her Halloween costumes, wine tasting and traveling.  An avid baseball fan with a special affinity for the San Diego Padres, Rebecca also enjoys visiting various ballparks throughout the country and has been to nearly two dozen ballparks to date.