Cohen, Chase, Hoffman & Schimmel, P.A.

Where the firm concentrates its work

Federal tax law runs through almost everything the firm does. It works out of South Florida, with its main office in Miami and a second office in Cooper City open to clients by appointment. The people it serves include business owners, investors, professionals and entrepreneurs, a group whose business and personal tax questions tend to overlap.

The firm sorts its services into a few connected areas: business planning and formation, estate planning and administration, and federal tax controversy work covering IRS audits and disputes. International tax and estate planning appears on the service list as well, which points to clients with assets or family ties outside the United States. In my opinion, that combination is what gives the firm its shape, since a tax problem for a business owner usually reaches into that owner's estate.

A tax focus also sets the tone for how the other areas get handled. Business deals, estate transfers and family agreements all carry tax outcomes, and the firm treats those outcomes as part of the same conversation. That is a reasonable way to read a service list built around federal tax as its common thread.

How the firm began

The about page states that the firm formed in the early 1980s. It gives no specific year, so I will not assign one. According to the firm, lawyers who had worked at large firms started it, and they built the work around tax law from the beginning.

That starting point matters for anyone reading the listing. A firm that chose tax as its organizing subject has had decades to keep depth in it, and the current service list matches that early choice. Several of the shareholders and counsel hold law degrees going back to the 1970s and earlier, which tells you the firm carries long individual records alongside its own history.

How the team is built

The team page lists three shareholders, one associate, two counsel and two paralegals. The senior lawyers share a common grounding in tax, which fits how the firm describes its work.

The shareholders

Fredric A. Hoffman is a member of the firm. He earned a B.S. from Lehigh University in 1970 and a J.D., cum laude, from George Washington University in 1973. His work covers federal estate and gift taxation, federal income tax, tax planning, estate planning and administration, trust administration, and business transactions, with closely held businesses among them.

Joseph Barry Schimmel came to law from engineering. He holds a B.E.E. in electrical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, earned in 1990, then a J.D. from Florida State University College of Law in 1993, and an LL.M. from New York University School of Law in 1994. That LL.M. is a tax-focused graduate degree, and his work covers estate and gift taxation, tax controversies, income tax, and trusts.

Daniel Martin Ebert is the third shareholder, and his work focuses on tax, estate planning and probate.

Counsel, associate and support

Two attorneys hold counsel roles. Bernard Dane Stein completed his legal education at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 1969, and his work focuses on estate planning and tax law. Lawrence F. Michelson earned an LL.M. from the University of Miami School of Law, and his work covers business law, estate planning, real estate law and tax law.

Georgia Theodora Zavos is the firm's associate. The team page also lists two paralegals, Olga L. Dominguez and Julissa Lirio. Several of these lawyers hold degrees dating to 1969 and 1973, which gives the firm a long collective grounding in its main subjects.

Business work and its tax side

On the business side, the firm helps clients form and structure companies. That work runs through corporations, limited partnerships, limited liability companies and other structures. The lawyers also handle corporate governance, along with sales, acquisitions, mergers, split-ups and the disputes that follow such deals.

Formation choices carry tax consequences that last for years, which is why a tax-centered firm has reason to lead with them. As a general matter, the entity a company picks affects how the IRS treats its income and how a later sale gets taxed. A firm that handles both the formation and the tax questions can weigh those together at the point when the choice is still open.

Deal work brings its own tax weight. A sale or merger can trigger gain, change who owes what, and reshape the owners' personal returns for the year it closes. When owners split up a company or fall into a dispute, the tax treatment of the split often shapes the terms, and counsel who sees both sides of that can keep the tax result in view while the business terms get worked out.

Facing the IRS

Federal tax controversy is a distinct part of the firm's work. Its lawyers advise clients facing IRS audits and disputes. An IRS audit usually starts with a notice, moves through document requests and examiner meetings, and can reach appeals or court if the two sides do not agree. Tax counsel who already knows a client's filings and history can carry that knowledge into each of those stages.

Estate planning, trusts and family agreements

The personal side of the firm's work covers estate planning, wealth preservation, gift tax planning and charitable giving. The lawyers also handle business succession, which ties the estate work back to the firm's business clients. Estate administration, meaning probate, and trust administration complete this group.

These matters follow their own process. A Florida probate case runs through the circuit court, with a personal representative gathering assets, paying creditors and distributing what remains to the heirs. Trust administration often stays out of court, though it still calls for accounting and tax filings.

Gift and charitable planning carry their own federal tax rules. Lifetime gifts can reduce the size of a taxable estate, and charitable giving can be structured so that it serves both a cause and the giver's tax position. A firm rooted in federal tax has the background to fit those pieces together with a client's will or trust.

Agreements between spouses

The firm prepares prenuptial, postnuptial and marital settlement agreements. As a reviewer, I read these as a natural extension of the tax and estate work, since they set financial terms between spouses and often touch the same assets a client's estate plan covers.

International tax and estate planning

The firm lists international tax and estate planning among its services, a sign that it works with clients whose money or family reaches outside the United States. Clients with foreign income, overseas property or relatives abroad face a second layer of rules on top of the federal ones. Reporting duties for foreign accounts and assets can be strict, and the penalties for missing them are real.

Estate planning gets more involved once assets or heirs cross a border. Countries tax inheritances in their own ways, and a plan that works cleanly inside the United States can meet obstacles abroad. Handling that calls for the same federal tax grounding the firm brings to its other work, applied to a wider map. The firm runs all of it from its Miami office, with the Cooper City office open to clients by appointment.