Golnar Yazdi - Coblentz Law

Details

P 415.293.6454

F 415.989.1663

gyazdi@coblentzlaw.com

Education

J.D.

Santa Clara University School of Law (1992)
B.A., with honors,

University of California, Santa Barbara (1988)
Diploma

University of Haute-Bretagne (1984), French Studies

Practices

Family Wealth

Golnar Yazdi is a Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law by the California Board of Legal Specialization. With more than 30 years of experience, Golnar’s practice focuses on sophisticated estate planning and wealth transfer strategies for high net worth individuals and families, including technology founders and entrepreneurs. She helps clients achieve their personal and business wealth transfer objectives while minimizing the impact of estate, gift, income, and generation-skipping transfer taxes.

Her practice includes intergenerational and dynastic planning, charitable planning, and estate and gift tax planning, as well as planning for clients with overseas holdings and related cross-border issues, using a full range of trust and entity-based strategies. Trust and estate administration is another significant part of Golnar’s practice. She advises individual and corporate fiduciaries, prepares gift and estate tax returns, and represents clients in gift and estate tax audits.

Golnar is recognized as a leading lawyer by the Chambers High Net Worth Guide in the Private Wealth Law – Northern California category, where a client notes, “Golnar’s experience and reach within the tech entrepreneur world is particularly great. There is no topic she doesn’t know about and she is also great at breaking things down into layman’s terms.” Another adds, “Golnar Yazdi is an incredible resource and adviser. We trust her judgement, discretion, expertise and business acumen.” She has also been selected to the Northern California Super Lawyers list since 2009, including recognition among the Top 100 lawyers (2014-2016) and Top 50 Women lawyers (2012-2016).

Golnar is a member of the Trusts & Estates, International Law, and Taxation sections of the California Bar Association, and of the Estate Planning/Probate Section of the San Mateo County Bar Association. She is also a member of the San Francisco Estate Planning Council, the Peninsula Estate Planning Council, and the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP), and serves on Heritage Bank’s Peninsula/Stanford Advisory Board.

Golnar serves on the Board of Directors of the Callison Foundation, where she is also Secretary. She is a member of the Advisory Council of Peninsula Family Service, where she previously served on the board, and a member of the Advisory Committee of the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County, where she previously served as Board President. She has also served on the boards of Lick-Wilmerding High School and the Mills-Peninsula Hospital Foundation.

Golnar earned her J.D. from Santa Clara University School of Law in 1992, where she participated in the Geneva/Strasbourg Program in International Law. She earned her B.A., with honors, from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1988. She received a diploma in French Studies from the University of Haute-Bretagne in Rennes, France in 1984.

Golnar is fluent in Farsi.