Janet Bandera

A woman with long hair and a smile.

Janet Bandera

Janet Nava Bandera is an AV rated attorney who founded the Bandera Law Firm in 2000. Janet works with U.S. and international families and business owners to preserve and transfer their legacies through estate and tax planning, charitable giving, and general business representation. The firm accepts clients that are residents of (or planning to be) Florida, Missouri, and Georgia.

Janet is a frequent speaker on estate and charitable giving matters. She is a past author of the Planning for Disability Section of the Missouri Bar Elder Law Desk book and for seven years was a columnist for the CCH Journal of Practical Estate Planning.

Janet volunteers for numerous charitable organizations and managed the Moneta Group Charitable Foundation for 13 years. She is married and lives with her husband and their boxer. In addition to volunteering, her passions include cycling, reading historical fiction and travel. She also loves to teach and served as an adjunct professor in the Master of Laws Program at Washington University, St. Louis.

Credentials

  • University of Missouri-St. Louis: B.S.B.A
  • St. Louis University School of Law: JD

Licenses

  • Florida
  • Georgia
  • Missouri

Honors and Awards

  • AV Preeminent©
  • 5 Star Wealth Manager

Speaking Engagements

  • American Cancer Society: Estate Planning Essentials
  • American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities (ALSAC): Essential Estate Planning
  • Anheuser-Busch Employees Credit Union: Life Planning
  • Barnes Jewish Hospital Foundation: Creating Your Family Legacy
  • Center for Nonprofit Success: Corporate Grant makers Panel Discussion
  • Charles Schwab Co: What’s new in Estate Planning?
  • Commerce Bank Brokerage Services: Planning for Retirement
  • Council for Independent Colleges: Strategic giving for donors and non-profit leaders
  • Embry-Riddle: Retirement and Estate Planning
  • Fidelity Investments: The Changing Face of Philanthropy
  • Institute for Defense Analysis: Avoiding the 13 estate planning mistakes
  • Jefferson Lab Retirement Day: Avoiding the unlucky 13 estate planning mistakes
  • Johns Hopkins University: Social Security Basics
  • Korean American Scholarship Foundation: Charitable Gift of Life Insurance
  • Lake Regional Hospital Foundation: Estate Planning Update
  • Missouri Bar Association: Legally Speaking
  • Missouri Botanical Garden: Grow Your Knowledge at the Garden
  • Missouri State Medical Association: Asset Protection
  • National Advisors Trust Company Shareholder Conference: Asset Protection Planning
  • Pima County Visitors Bureau: Estate Planning in Uncertain Times
  • Spelman College: Essential Estate Planning
  • St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital: Avoiding the 13 estate planning mistakes
  • University of Central Florida: Retirement and Estate Planning
  • University of Florida: Avoiding the top estate planning mistakes
  • University of Kentucky: Avoiding the top estate planning mistakes
  • University of Maryland: Avoiding the top estate planning mistakes
  • University of Miami: Equally Prepared/Financial Planning for the LGBT community
  • University of Missouri: Probate Avoidance Through Trusts and Beneficiary Forms
  • Vanderbilt University: Creating a lasting legacy-Strategies to ensure a generational legacy

Representative Publications

  • Location, Location, Location: How Trust Situs affects beneficiaries.
  • Controlling from the grave: How A Grantor can provide Creditor Protection for Heirs
  • The Contrast between Private Foundations and Donor Advised Funds
  • Donor Advised Funds
  • Get Exempt – Stay Exempt, Part 2: Disclosure and Substantiation Documents
  • Get Exempt – Stay Exempt, Part 1: Employment Issues for 501(c)(3) Employers
  • A Not for Profit Directors Checklist, Journal of Practical Estate Planning
  • So, you think CRTs are Easy?
  • What do you do with an Unwanted Charitable Foundation or Trust?
  • Private Foundation vs. Donor Advised Fund
  • Does Your Family Mission Statement Encourage Giving?
  • Ethical Considerations in Philanthropic Planning
  • What’s Hot in Charitable Giving Today?
  • Asset Protection: Back to Basics
  • Philanthropy and the Professional Advisor
  • Leaving Social Capital
  • Ethical Issues in Charitable Planning