Kevin M. Bayley
Trust Administration and Estate Planning Counsel
Kevin Bayley, Trust Administration and Estate Planning Counsel with KJM Law Partners, brings more than two decades of sophisticated client counseling, transactional, and litigation experience. His current practice focuses primarily on trust administration and estate planning.
Kevin specializes in steering families through the trust administration process, including preparation and filing of needed estate and gift tax returns, drafting trust distribution, allocation agreements, and property transfer documents, and filing any needed probate court petitions to ensure all assets are properly titled. Kevin also represents clients in probate administrations, contested conservatorships, and some civil litigation matters.
Examples of Kevin’s current work include:
- Administration of trust and estates for families having more than several hundred million dollars in assets.
- Successful representation of trustees in obtaining title to assets through the court.
- Representation of clients with probate and/or tax matters ongoing in California and foreign jurisdictions.
- Representation of estate administrator in maximizing estate assets by staving off foreclosure until property could be sold.
- Successfully overturned $600,000 tax bill by showing with IRS that losses claimed by taxpayer should be treated as active instead of passive.
- Multiple successful petitions to reclaim assets inadvertently left out of a trust at death of trust settlor.
- Consistent success representing clients in administrative hearings.
Kevin has successfully represented clients at all levels of the legal system, including administrative hearings, state and federal court bench and jury trials, and class action litigation. Kevin began his practice advocating on behalf of people with disabilities, working for the state protection and advocacy agency of California representing people in locked mental health facilities, before moving into private practice.
Kevin received his Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Whitman College, and his law degree from U.C. Davis. As a life-long California resident with roots in Pasadena, Kevin has a passion for volunteering, including working with political campaigns at the local, state, and national level and serving on the board of his children’s school.