Lucas K. Love

Lucas Love is Of Counsel in the firm's Honolulu office and a member of its tax practice group. For over a decade, Lucas has helped clients structure their business and personal affairs to reduce the burdens of income and estate taxes, served as general corporate counsel for small businesses, advised companies and small business owners in complex mergers and acquisitions, formed new business entities and nonprofit organizations, aided taxpayers in controversies with the IRS and Hawaii Department of Taxation, and guided families through the estate planning and trust administration processes. 

Prior to joining Carlsmith, Lucas was an associate with Baker & McKenzie in Palo Alto, California, where he advised some of Silicon Valley's largest companies on a variety of international tax planning and federal tax controversy matters, including a global spin-off of a US multinational corporation's line of business in over 25 countries. Prior to law school, Lucas was an accountant at Ernst & Young in Honolulu, Hawaii, where he audited the financial statements of some of Hawaii’s largest companies. In addition to his law degree, he has a master's degree in accounting and is a Certified Public Accountant (not in public practice).

Representative Matters

Local & International Corporate Transactions and Related Tax

Lucas utilizes his background in tax and accounting to assist clients in a wide variety of corporate transactions. Lucas has developed succession plans for small businesses to transfer ownership to the next generation; negotiated and documented the sale of businesses in various industries, including medicine, dentistry, construction, aviation, and real estate; structured tax-efficient inbound investments, into and exit strategies out of Hawaii by clients located worldwide.

U.S. & International Estate Planning, Trust Administration, and Trust Litigation

In addition to assisting clients with their corporate matters, Lucas advises clients on a variety of estate planning, trust administration, and trust litigation matters. Lucas has prepared wills and trusts for estates large and small, including the creation of tax-planning trusts such as IDGT’s and CRAT’s; advised clients with assets located abroad to minimize the potential for double estate taxation and to reduce difficulties in administration; advised trustees regarding the duties in managing and winding down a trust; assisted executors in the preparation of Form 706 (estate tax return); represented trustees in litigation by beneficiaries; and represented beneficiaries in litigation against trustees.

Distinctions

• Selected by attorney peers for inclusion 2024 Hawaii Super Lawyers
• Selected by attorney peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America: Ones to Watch 2021 and 2022 for Tax Law, and Trusts and Estates
• Selected for the 2017 Emerging Young Business Leaders Program by the Honolulu Japanese Chamber of Commerce
• Judge Martin Pence Scholarship for Academic Achievement, University of California Berkeley, School of Law
• Deloitte Outstanding M.Acc. Student, University of Hawaii at Manoa
• Beta Alpha Psi, Accounting Honor Society, University of Hawaii at Manoa
• Beta Gamma Sigma, University of Hawaii at Manoa
• Provosts' Honors, University of California at Los Angeles
• Golden Key International Honor Society, University of California at Los Angeles
  

Affiliations

• Hawaii Estate Plan Council
• Hawaii State Bar Association - Board Member of the Tax Section
• Hawaii Society of Certified Public Accountants