Daniel C. Hales, Esq.

Daniel Clark Hales is an estate planning attorney in Southern California and president of Citadel Law Corporation. With more than 30 years of experience, he is a leading member of the estate planning and legal community.

Mr. Hales specializes in structuring and implementing advanced estate planning techniques for his clients, including revocable and irrevocable trusts, complex marital trusts, Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts, Charitable Remainder Trusts, Intentionally Defective Grantor Trusts, Qualified Personal Residence Trusts, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt private foundations, Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts, buy-sell agreements, business succession planning, and the design and implementation of gifting and discounting programs to mitigate estate and gift taxes. A large part of his practice focuses on probate and trust litigation and on trust and estate administration, including trust divisions, 706 Estate Tax Returns, and administration and reformative trust petitions before the probate court. Mr. Hales sits on the boards of numerous foundations and charitable organizations.

Mr. Hales is a well-known speaker on advanced estate, tax, and business planning. He has lectured on the benefits of sound advanced estate planning techniques at hundreds of public and private events — for financial institutions, leading corporations, retirement communities, and professional organizations. Over the years he has personally completed thousands of trusts, estate plans, tax-exempt organizations, and business entities for his clients, and has served as an expert witness on estate planning matters.

His clients include some of the most sophisticated and wealthy business owners and investors in California and across the United States. Mr. Hales believes that each client’s estate plan should not only reflect that client’s own unique desires and specific requirements for wealth administration and distribution, but should also communicate the client’s individual values and objectives to the next generation.