Retirement Planning SECURED? Action Steps for Plan Participants and IRA Owners
February 19, 2021
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John R. Cella, Jr.
Estate and Business Planning Attorney
John counsels clients in estate and business planning matters. He prepares estate planning documents, including wills, revocable trusts, minors trusts, irrevocable life insurance trusts, and charitable trusts, and advises clients on the income, estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer tax consequences of wealth transfers to individuals, trusts, and charitable organizations. John also works with executors and trustees in estate and trust administration matters. With respect to business planning, he assists clients in entity selection, limited liability company formation and maintenance, closely-held business succession matters (including the creation and maintenance of ESOPs), and deferred compensation for employers, owners, and key employees in employment and severance agreements. John's practice includes counseling employers on their tax-qualified retirement plans, health and welfare benefit plans, nonqualified deferred compensation plans, and equity compensation arrangements. His background in employee benefits and compensation is beneficial to clients considering income and estate tax aspects of distributions, rollovers, and trustee-to-trustee transfers from qualified retirement plans and/or IRAs.
Education
- LL.M., Employee Benefits, with honors, The John Marshall Law School, 2003
- J.D., The University of South Carolina School of Law, 1999. Student Editorial Board, ABA Real Property, Probate & Trust Journal
- B.A., Economics, President's Honor List, The University of South Carolina, 1996
- B.A., History, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1994
Honors and Distinctions*
- "Legal Elite," Business North Carolina, Tax/Estate, 2021
- The Best Lawyers in America, 2018 - 2021
Professional and Community Affiliations
- Aldert Root Elementary Educational Foundation (founding board member)
- Needham B. Broughton Capital Foundation (board of directors)
- Needham B. Broughton High School Alumni Association
- North Carolina Bar Association: Committees—Strategic Planning & Emerging Trends (2004-10); Trends Subcommittee, Co-chair (2005-06); Momentum 2010 Information Technology Subcommittee, Chair (2006-08); Technology Advisory Committee (2007-08)
- North Carolina Bar Association: Section—Estate Planning and Fiduciary Law and Business
- Saint Saviour's Center (board of directors, board chairman (2013), Carriage House volunteer bingo caller)
- South Carolina Bar
- Triangle Benefits Forum
- Wake County Estate Planning Council
- Wake Education Partnership (School Finance Committee, 2003-04 and 2004-05; Quality Matters Committee, 2005-06)
- White Memorial Presbyterian Church (Deacon (2013-15))
Admitted to Practice
- North Carolina, 2001
- South Carolina, 2000
- All state courts in North Carolina
* Please see the following websites for an explanation of the membership standards for the following recognitions: www.bestlawyers.com; businessnc.com/special-sections/legal-elite/; and www.superlawyers.com/north-carolina.
