Yolanda’s practice focuses on estate planning and family wealth transfer for individuals and families within and outside the U.S.  She has experience in income, gift, estate, and generation-skipping tax matters.  

Yolanda has experience assisting clients with estate planning, estate administration, cross border estate planning, and private foundations.  Her estate planning experience covers designing and implementing estate plans to meet the family and philanthropic objectives of clients in a tax-efficient manner; assisting individuals and families in designing and implementing succession plans to transfer ownership and management of family enterprises; assisting clients in creative approaches to dealing with difficult wealth-related family issues; and assisting in structuring tax-efficient settlements of fiduciary and family disputes including contested probate and trust matters and in connection with the dissolution of marriages.  

She has also assisted many clients with estate administration, including assisting executors in the administration of large and complex estates including important art, closely-held businesses, minerals, ranches, etc. through initial probate, preparation of federal estate tax returns, audit by the Internal Revenue Service, and funding of bequests; and assisting estates and individuals with negotiating and selling important art directly or through auction houses.

Yolanda has extensive experience with cross border estate planning for clients, including pre-immigration estate planning; coordination of estate tax and inheritance laws of U.S. and foreign jurisdictions; planning for U.S. persons expecting inheritances from non-U.S. family members; and advising non-U.S. persons with respect to U.S. gift and estate tax and Texas trust and probate law matters.

Her work with philanthropic individuals and families has led to broad experience with private foundations and planned giving, assisting clients in the creation of private foundations, including formulating their mission statement; advising private foundations with respect to changes in state and federal tax laws; assisting private foundations in creating and implementing succession plans; and assisting both donors and recipient charitable institutions with structured gifts and bequests, federal tax and federal and state compliance matters.

EDUCATION

• New York University School of Law, J.D., 1979
• Vassar College, B.A., 1970

PROFESSIONAL HISTORY

• YDK, 2011-present
• Vinson & Elkins LLP, 1986-2011
• Shearman and Sterling LLP (New York), 1982-1986
• Morgan Guarantee Trust Company, 1979-1982

ADMISSIONS

• Admitted to the State Bar of Texas,1987
• Admitted to the New York State Bar, 1980

OF NOTE

• Chambers High Net Worth, Band 1 (2016-Present)
• A Texas Top-Notch Lawyer in Trusts and Estates, 2012; The Best Lawyers in America(R) in trusts and estates law, 2003-present; “Texas Super Lawyer” 
• Texas Monthly, 2004-present; “Top 100 Attorneys” handling personal wealth concerns; Worth Magazine, December/January 2009; “Top Trust and Estate Lawyers,” Bloomberg Personal Finance, 1999; and “Best Trusts and Estates Lawyers in the U.S.,” Town and Country, 1998 
• Houston Grand Opera Endowment Board, Member; Greater Houston Community Foundation Council; and Museum of Fine Arts Houston Latin American Art subcommittee