Michelle L. Soto

Michelle Soto focuses her practice primarily on estate planning for high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals and families. Michelle works with clients to structure estate plans tailored to their personal, family, and tax objectives, including through wills, trusts, and other planning vehicles, as well as more advanced structures where appropriate. Her practice draws on her experience counseling clients on multigenerational wealth transfer, trust and estate administration, and tax-efficient strategies involving offshore holding companies, foreign trusts, and foundations. Michelle brings a combination of private law practice and institutional wealth advisory experience, having spent time as a wealth advisor to Latin American clients at J.P. Morgan Private Bank, where she delivered integrated investment, tax, and legal structuring guidance across multiple jurisdictions.

During her time at J.P. Morgan, Michelle served as a trusted advisor to families and family offices, deepening her understanding of the practical financial and investment considerations that shape estate planning decisions. Michelle’s experience at J.P. Morgan informs her approach to cross-border planning, including trust-based strategies designed to help clients address pre-immigration, succession, and other tax planning considerations. She has counseled clients on complex U.S. and international tax compliance frameworks, including Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, Passive Foreign Investment Company, Controlled Foreign Corporation regulations, and foreign trust reporting.

Michelle has advised clients with respect to the day-to-day administration of trusts and estates, including matters involving post-mortem tax planning. She also has experience preparing federal gift and estate tax returns, advising on pre-immigration tax planning, and structuring domestic and international entities.

Concentrations

• Wealth transfer planning
• International estate planning
• Charitable planning
• Estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer tax planning and reporting
• Trust and estate administration