About Us
Business Planning
Estate Planning
Estate, Gift, and Income Tax Planning
Corporate Planning and Counsel
Charitable Planning and Non-Profit Organizations
International Business Counsel
Buckley Law’s vision is to be the pre-eminent business and estate planning firm along the Front Range and throughout Colorado. Our goal is that Front Range residents think of only one name – Buckley Law – when it comes to protecting their families and businesses, saving on taxes, and creating legacies for their children, grandchildren, and community. Click here to learn more about our process, or continue reading below for more information on who we are and what we do!
What Fires Us Up
A Chinese proverb says if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life. Attorney John Buckley has never worked since converting his international law practice to a boutique estate planning and business law practice in 1994. A graduate of the United States Air Force academy (BS), Webster University (MA), and Harvard Law School (JD), John owns Buckley, P.C., which he runs with his wife Melinda (the firm’s legal administrator) in Colorado Springs. Buckley Law exists to fulfill clients’ hopes, goals, aspirations, and dreams; provide security and peace of mind for your family; and maximize tax savings (legally, ethically, appropriately, and fairly) to keep money in the pocket of the person who earned it – you!
Buckley Law serves clients from a multitude of backgrounds and locations across the state of Colorado, including retirees, farmers and ranchers, and owners of closely-held family businesses throughout the Front Range, the Western Slope, Ski Country (Summit and Eagle Counties) and the Eastern Plains. John grew up in Kentucky on a horse farm and Melinda’s father was a Kentucky equine veterinarian. Thus, John and Melinda particularly love serving ranchers and farmers, and appreciate the laid-back, entrepreneurial atmosphere that permeates Colorado Springs and the State of Colorado in general. John and Melinda also care deeply for their elderly clients. If mobility challenges exist, John will make house calls in place of scheduling appointments at the office.
Our Practice Philosophy
At Buckley Law, we take a low-volume, high-touch approach to practicing law that emphasizes personal service and working with other professionals to serve clients in a multi-disciplinary fashion. This futuristic practice model is primarily used by larger law and accounting firms, but has been modified by Mr. Buckley to meet the needs of this community. Knowing that his clients want to be the “hub” of all information flow regarding their business and estate planning, John builds teams of professionals to work together transparently for the client’s benefit. These teams can include John, along with a nationally-renowned business valuation expert, an insurance professional, a financial planner, and a CPA. Together, the team looks for the best available tools to maximize the client’s benefit in each of these disciplines.
Because of our commitment to personalized service, Buckley Law doesn’t do “one-size-fits-all” planning using form documents off the internet. Our plans are unique to you and your specific needs. To begin working together, we schedule a complementary initial consultation with potential estate planning and business planning clients to discuss their situation, goals, and objectives. If a potential client wishes to retain the Firm’s services, we then prepare and implement a plan that will achieve the client’s immediate as well as long-term goals.
The Tools We Use
In business planning, John restructures businesses to get current income tax deductions and save money on capital gains tax, estate tax and gift taxes when the owners exit the business. In addition, the Firm focuses on returning the cost of your legal fees as much as possible through pre-tax savings when the plan is implemented. We use legal tools like carpenters use hammers and saws. These tools include (but are not limited to) limited partnerships, tax-exempt entities, and sophisticated trust planning. If a client only needs a simple will and powers of attorney, our Firm stands ready to serve them as well. Sometimes, we can avoid probate and transfer assets without using a will or a trust. It all depends on the client’s situation and particular goals and objectives.
Justice Learned Hand said there are two tax systems in America – one for the educated and one for the ignorant. John specializes in helping his clients structure their affairs in an educated manner. Once used only by the rich and famous, John makes sophisticated business and estate planning tools available to everyone, including charitable planning with its significant tax breaks. J. Paul Getty, who among other financial wizards used charitable (or tax-exempt) planning to live the lifestyle of a billionaire but own little, is reputed to have said: “It’s amazing how much [money] you can make when you’re willing to give it away.” John’s philosophy is that if a person is estate or income taxable at death, she or he can either give an involuntary charitable contribution to the IRS (the government is a charity under the Tax Code), or can create wealth using tax-exempt tools while taking care of his or her heirs as well.
John is one of a handful of founding members of Wealth Counsel, LLC, an organization comprised of approximately 8,000 of America’s top business and estate planning lawyers. He was also a member of Business Enterprise Institute, a leading group of business exit planners in America. Every year he invests a great deal of time and treasure (tuition plus travel expenses) to attend conferences in these key areas of the Firm’s practice. There, he interacts with the best of the best in estate and business planning. He does this because it keeps him on top of very advanced planning tools that save money and build wealth for his clients.
Commitment to Community
In addition to practicing law, John is very involved in the local community. Buckley Law believes in serving our community both financially and with our time. John is an active member of the Rotary Club of Colorado Springs, a former President of that Club, and has been on the board of directors of the Champions Foundation for local scholar athletes. He was a past President of the Peak Executive Forum, providing innovative and practical business education for CXOs in the Front Range. He served on the national board of directors of the National Lawyers Association (www.nla.org) and was a board member of Keep Colorado Springs Beautiful. He incorporated the Colorado Parkinson Foundation, Inc. and has served proudly on its Board of Directors for over 20 years. He served on the Advisory Board of the 4th Judicial District Veterans Treatment Court, as well as the Statutory Review Committee of the Colorado Bar Association. John has been very involved in drafting two major statutes in Colorado (including the Colorado Uniform Trust Code and a statute for a presumption of shared parenting time which went before the Colorado Legislature from 2002-2004) and has also been a leader in preventing the adoption of statutes that would negatively impact the rights and interests of Colorado citizens. John also donates numerous days each year to pro bono work. He is a member of the Christian Legal Society and provides free counsel and services on an as-needed basis to disadvantaged individuals such as low-income veterans.
Staff Biographies
Senior Attorney: John C. Buckley, III
John Buckley is a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy as well as Harvard Law School, where he concentrated on corporate litigation and international law. He served on the Board of Directors of the National Lawyers Association, and also served on the Board of Regents of Ava Maria Law School now located in Naples, FL. He is a member of the local chapter of the Association of Graduates of the United States Air Force Academy, and served as a Graduate mentor for the cadets in Cadet Squadron Eleven. He is a founding member of Wealth Counsel LLC, an organization comprised of many of the best tax, business, and estate planning lawyers in America.
John has published articles on topics as diverse as U.S. Air Force fighter aircraft safety, space warfare, and the legal risks of the present divorce laws and their adverse effect upon children. He performed (and performs) seminars nationwide and locally for both attorneys and laymen on estate and business planning and the unique tools available to clients to legally minimize their income, capital gains, estate and gift tax burdens. He has been an international business consultant with 20 years experience in Middle Eastern culture and business practices, as well as experience in Russia. He drafted a law considered by the Colorado Legislature in 2002-2004 on shared parenting, helped revise a law passed in 2011 concerning the appropriateness and applicability of professional trustee fees in Colorado, and was one of the drafters of the Colorado Uniform Trust Code which took effect on January 1, 2019.
Mr. Buckley is an active Rotarian and served on the Board of Directors of the Rotary Club of Colorado Springs and the Champions Foundation for local scholar athletes. He served as the President of the Rotary Club of Colorado Springs in 2012-13, and participates in local service projects for his community with Rotary on an ongoing basis. John also serves on the Colorado Springs Airport Board, which is responsible for overseeing operations and improvements at Colorado Springs Municipal Airport. In total, he spent 24 years as an Air Force officer, including ten years on active duty and 14 years in the reserves. During his career, he was checked out as pilot in command in the T-41 Muscalero, T-33 Shooting Star and the F-106 Delta Dart. He logged flight time in the 0-2 Skymaster, T-38 Talon, F-101 Voodoo, F-4 Phantom, F-15 Eagle, F-16 Fighting Falcon, L-39 Albatross, and Mig-29 Fulcrum. He is a retired reserve lieutenant colonel who finished his career serving as the original (“plankholder”) squadron commander of the first combined space test and aggressor squadron in the history of the United States Air Force.
Junior Attorney: Nicholas T. Farnsworth
Nick Farnsworth is a graduate of Regent University School of Law in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where he was a member of the honors program and served two years on the Student Bar Association (student government). Originally from Arizona, Nick chose to practice law in Colorado due to the high quality of life and numerous recreational opportunities afforded by our state, particularly hiking and downhill skiing. After starting his legal career with a respected business, real estate, and civil litigation firm in downtown Colorado Springs, Nick launched his own practice in August 2022 focusing on business and real estate matters, non-profit law, and estate planning services. Since June 2023, he has also been licensed to practice law in Arizona. Nick is dedicated to assisting families and small business owners with the creation, protection, and preservation of financial assets through comprehensive contingency planning and particularly enjoys using his legal training to craft solutions that bring security and peace of mind to his clients. In January 2024, he entered into a joint venture with Buckley Law, allowing both firms to better serve all clients.
In addition to practicing law, Nick loves to travel and is passionate about spending time outdoors, regardless of the season. During the summer, Nick is an avid hiker, mountain biker, and camping enthusiast, while during winter he can frequently be found challenging himself at one of Colorado’s many world-class ski areas. Prior to law school, Nick spent a season working as a youth ski instructor, a pastime he resumed during the 2023/2024 season by teaching at Copper Mountain on weekends. He is also involved at his church, Village Seven Presbyterian, and prioritizes volunteer work with several other local ministries and charities.
Nick is a member of multiple professional associations, including the Colorado and Arizona Bar Associations, the El Paso County Bar Association, and the Colorado Springs chapter of the Christian Legal Society.
Legal Administrator: Melinda Buckley
Melinda is a graduate of the University of Kentucky. She brought 20 years of significant business experience managing the administrative processes of two different closely-held family businesses prior to beginning her career at Buckley Law in 1999. She has served as the key interface between Buckley Law and our clients for 25 years. Melinda provides a pleasant greeting to all potential and current clients who contact our Office. Most of our clients get to know Melinda as she completes funding and administration for our clients after their estate and business plans are completed.
What Our Clients Are Saying
Articles
“Portability” of the Federal Estate Tax Exemption – What does it Mean?
With the political and economic climate as it is in the summer of 2008, we are not likely to see total repeal of the federal estate tax in the foreseeable future. However, both Republican and Democratic Presidential candidates support estate tax reform. Realistically,...