Meet Michigan Estate Planning Attorney Bill Gaggos

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Bio
Legal Experience

I was born in Highland Park, Michigan, the oldest of four children. My parents were both children of immigrants and products of the Great Depression: my mother a homemaker and my father a businessman who grew up in poverty, helping support his family by selling newspapers on the streets of Detroit from the age of eight. My father’s background in particular shaped my perspective of family, work, and money. I bring that perspective, along with broad technical knowledge of the tax code, business, property, estate and trust law, to every estate and business planning engagement.

I earned my accounting degree from Michigan State University (1992) and my law degree from the University of Detroit (1995). I began my career in public accounting, working for two years at a firm that exclusively served ultra-wealthy families, including the Taubman family. That role introduced me to partnership taxation and gift tax planning. The technical experience was invaluable, but with almost no direct client contact, I never felt my work made a personal impact.

After earning my CPA, I moved to a small, local tax consulting firm, where I spent another three years working more closely with clients. That position expanded my experience across virtually every area of tax law, including partnership, corporate, individual, estate, and gift taxation. During slower seasons, I worked directly with clients who owed significant back taxes, as well as clients with estate and business planning needs. That hands-on experience sharpened my understanding of asset-protection strategies and provided a strong foundation for my current estate and business planning practice.

I live in Beverly Hills, Michigan with my wife, and we have two children (ages 18 and 21). In my free time, I enjoy all things outdoors –sailing, hiking, downhill skiing, hunting, and fishing. I am also an avid reader of historical fiction, psychology, and philosophy.

Legal Experience

After managing several thousand tax research engagements during my three years at TRS, I joined two attorneys to begin my private legal practice. Since that time, I have handled a wide range of estate and business matters, including:

An estate exceeding $30 million in real estate and $40 million in unsecured debt, arising during the depth of the Great Recession. The decedent’s estate included more than $10 million in federal and state tax liabilities, a prenuptial challenge by his surviving spouse involving an unaffordable family home, a criminal tax referral, and interference by an adult child that led to parallel litigation.
A family office with over $50 million in assets, including marketable securities, multi-tenant real estate, and a legacy family business. The patriarch had two sets of children from different marriages, which required careful long-term tax planning and family-sensitive structuring. My work included premarital agreement modifications, the post-death sale of the business, and allocating rental real estate among heirs—along with resolving an out-of-court valuation dispute between two national appraisal firms.
Estate planning for more than 1,800 Michigan families, representing an estimated combined asset value exceeding $8 billion, the administration of more than 250 estates and trusts, and numerous contested probate matters. Approximately one-third of these matters involved complex tax or legal issues—a higher-than-usual rate that reflects the tax-focused planning my practice is known for.
Representation in approximately 60 business purchase or sale transactions, ranging from $300,000 to $18.5 million. For larger acquisitions, I retain co-counsel to supplement my work. Many of these transactions occur between related parties, where emotional and generational dynamics are often as important as legal and financial considerations.
International and high-net-worth planning, including assisting clients in expatriating seven-figure investment portfolios to asset-protection jurisdictions; handling seven-figure IRS FBAR matters involving Swiss bank accounts; and advising on multi-million-dollar international estate plans involving real estate in Canada, Colombia, Argentina, the Philippines, Ireland, Italy, and Greece.

While I continue to assist clients with modest estates—including Ladybird Deeds, Powers of Attorney, and simplified planning—my practice has increasingly focused on families with substantial assets, cross-generational business interests, and complex tax and legal issues. My background in advanced tax planning continues to shape the way I structure, negotiate, and guide these engagements.

William H. Gaggos

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Legal Experience

Gaggos Flaggman, PLLC