Meet Mela Garber, CDFA

Mela Garber, CDFA, is a Tax Principal and the Tax Leader of Anchin Private Client, as well as Leader of its Trust & Estates Services and Matrimonial Advisory Groups.

She has extensive experience handling all aspects of taxation and planning for high net worth families, their trusts and estates.

In trust and estate administration, Mela works closely with trustees and executors, guiding them through complex tax laws and advising them on creative funding of bequests and tax efficient ways of distributing the assets. In the estate planning area, Mela utilizes sophisticated tools to ensure maximum savings for her clients. Mela also helps them with their philanthropic goals, establishing family foundations and structuring gifting programs. She also develops tax strategies for her clients with substantial art holdings to minimize their tax liabilities.

Mela assists clients in matrimonial issues working with divorcees and works closely with widows. Utilizing a holistic approach, Mela helps women navigate through their new financial lives. Mela creates cash budgeting programs, helps to educate her clients on financial independence, provides proactive tax planning and works in conjunction with money managers/financial advisors, attorneys and other advisors to help create the best advisory team possible.

Over the past 25 years, Mela also has gained valuable experience handling tax and gift audits with the Internal Revenue Service and produces favorable results for her clients. Mela has significant experience providing support in Trust & Estates litigation and preparation of judicial accountings.

Mela was featured in The Seven Pearls of Financial Wisdom, A Woman’s Guide to Enjoying Wealth and Power, a book where she contributed her knowledge on a variety of matrimonial topics. In addition, she often presents before law firms on topics of planning to minimize income taxes on trusts and estates.

Mela is a member of the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants (NYSSCPA), the Estate Planning Council of New York City Inc. and the Association of Divorce Financial Planners. She is a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst (CFDA) by The Institute for Divorce Financial Analysts. Mela is often quoted by the press and was featured in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, U.S. News & World Report, and Private Wealth Magazine. She also appeared on Yahoo! Finance’s “On the Move” program and is a frequent panelist, podcast guest, speaker and author on issues related to tax planning issues for women. Mela has also served as a lecturer at the Practicing Law Institute Conference.

In addition to English, Mela is fluent in Russian.