Overview
Ashley B. Sawyer focuses her private client practice on a broad spectrum of U.S. and non-U.S. tax planning matters. She advises on all aspects of complex estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer tax and compliance, provides guidance to family offices and works with high-net-worth families on business and legacy succession. She works closely with clients and their allied advisors to strategize and implement sophisticated domestic and cross-border plans involving varied types of U.S. and foreign trust structures through gifting, estate freeze transactions, life insurance and closely held or qualified small business stock.
Ashley also advises fiduciaries on administration of estates and trusts and modification of defective trusts through nonjudicial settlements, decanting and reformation. She is experienced in charitable planning techniques, including split-interest trusts and private foundations, and counsels private and public tax-exempt organizations on matters involving tax-exempt status, compliance and navigating governance issues.
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Strafford Publications Webinar, “Planning for the Sunset of the Estate Tax Exclusion”
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American Bar Association, “Internal Revenue Code Section 679 – Foreign Grantor Trusts”
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HalfMoon Education, Inc.: “Current Issues in Estate and Retirement Planning”
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American Bar Association: “Current Developments in Estate and Gift Tax”
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ABA Tax Committee Meeting - Recent Developments in Estate & Gift Tax
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Guest Professor at Washington and Lee University - Estate and Gift Tax and 2702
Education
- Catholic University of America, J.D.
- Guilford College, B.A., cum laude
Court Admissions
- Supreme Court of Virginia
- District of Columbia Court of Appeals
Bar Admissions
- Virginia
- District of Columbia
Clerkships
- King County Superior Court
Recognition
- Named in Chambers High Net Worth Guide in Washington, D.C., Private Wealth Law (2024)
- Named "Best Lawyer" in Trusts & Estates, by The Best Lawyers in America, published by Woodward White, Inc. (2025)
- Named to Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch list in Trusts & Estates (2023)
Affiliations
- Fellow, American College of Trusts and Estates Counsel
- Chair, Committee on Estate and Gift Taxes, Taxation Section, American Bar Association (2024-Present)
- TEP, Society of Trusts and Estates Practitioners (STEP)
- Fellow, American Bar Foundation
- Member, Class I of the ACTEC Mid-Atlantic Fellows Institute
- Member, Washington, D.C. Estate Planning Council
- Member, American Bar Association (2011-Present)
- Member, Real Property Section, Trusts & Estates Section, Virginia State Bar (2011-Present)
- Member, Estates, Trusts and Probate Law Section, District of Columbia Bar (2014-Present)
- Member, Society of Financial Service Professionals