Megan Ferkel Earhart

Megan Ferkel Earhart is a partner with the Firm's Taxation, Trusts & Estates Department. Her practice includes estate planning, probate, trust administration and related income, gift and estate tax matters.

Megan works with individuals, families, fiduciaries, and on multigenerational planning, providing each with a detailed, tax-efficient plan tailored to their goals. Megan prepares revocable living trusts and related estate planning documents, and structures and advises on a wide range of irrevocable trusts, including grantor retained annuity trusts (GRATs), charitable remainder trusts (CRTs), spousal lifetime access trusts (SLATs), spousal lifetime access non-grantor trusts (SLANTs), defective grantor trusts (DGTs), irrevocable life insurance trusts (ILITs) and dynasty trusts. She also advises clients on business succession planning, entity formation, and charitable tax planning.

She counsels clients on California property tax matters, including issues raised by the county assessor and strategies to mitigate property tax exposure, and works with young entrepreneurs on pre-liquidity planning, coordinating with their other advisors on the tax considerations that arise before a company is sold. She also advises clients in the artificial intelligence industry on liquidity and charitable planning strategies tied to rapid growth in that sector.

On the administration side, Megan handles trust administration, prepares gift and estate tax returns, and regularly counsels fiduciaries on their duties. She works closely with families to analyze asset contributions, draft trusts and identify ways to minimize taxes, often convening family meetings that bring together multiple generations of a family with their broader team of advisors. For clients focused on multigenerational wealth transfer, she designs dynastic plans that account for both estate tax and generation-skipping transfer tax, structuring gifts so that grandchildren can benefit during their parents’ lifetimes—for example, funding education or a home purchase—rather than waiting until the next generation has passed away.

Clients appreciate Megan’s calm demeanor, thoroughness and responsiveness, as well as her empathy in navigating difficult and sensitive issues. They consistently note her ability to explain complex tax and estate planning matters in a clear, concise manner.

Megan is a native of the Los Angeles area and is active in charitable organizations. She has authored and co-authored articles on estate planning and lectures to audiences on estate planning, including the Beverly Hills Bar Association, the Jewish Community Foundation and USC Trusts and Estates Conference. She serves on the Professional Advisor Speaker Series Committee for the Jewish Community Foundation.