John R. Cella, Jr.

Position: Shareholder

Direct: (919) 510-9272

Phone: (919) 787-8880

Fax: (919) 325-4603

3605 Glenwood Avenue, Suite 500
Raleigh, NC 27612

A member of Manning Fulton & Skinner, P.A., John counsels clients in estate and business planning matters. He prepares estate planning documents, including wills, revocable trusts, minors trusts, irrevocable life insurance trusts, and charitable trusts, and advises clients on the income, estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer tax consequences of wealth transfers to individuals, trusts, and charitable organizations. He also works with executors and trustees in estate and trust administration matters. With respect to business planning, John assists clients in entity selection, limited liability company formation and maintenance, closely-held business succession matters (including the creation and maintenance of ESOPs), and compensation arrangements for owners and key employees.

John’s practice includes retirement planning and IRA distributions, nonqualified deferred compensation, and equity compensation. His background in employee benefits and compensation is beneficial when counseling clients on income and estate tax aspects of distributions, rollovers, and trustee-to-trustee transfers from qualified retirement plans and/or IRAs. As part of the estate planning process for clients with substantial retirement plan assets, John customizes beneficiary designations in accordance with clients’ personal and tax objectives.

To complete Manning Fulton's online estate planning form click here. (Note: To access, view, download, complete and print this fillable form, you will need to use Adobe Acrobat Reader 9.0 (or later). Adobe Acrobat Reader is available for free and can be downloaded from the following web site: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html.)

Education

The John Marshall Law School, LL.M in Employee Benefits, with honors, 2003
University of South Carolina School of Law, J.D., 1999
- Ellis, Lawhorne & Sims Journal Competition Writing Award
- Student Editorial Board, ABA Real Property, Probate & Trust Journal
University of South Carolina, B.A. in Economics (minor in Business Administration), President's Honor List, 1996
University of North Carolina, B.A. in History, 1994

Admitted to Practice

State of North Carolina, 2001
State of South Carolina, 2000

Professional Activities

North Carolina Bar Association
- Estate Planning and Fiduciary Law Section
- Strategic Planning & Emerging Trends Committee (2004 - 2010)
  - Trends Subcommittee, Co-chair (2005-06)
- Momentum 2010 Information Technology Subcommittee, Chair (2006-08)
- Technology Advisory Committee (2007-08)
South Carolina Bar
Wake County Bar Association
Triangle Benefits Forum
Wake County Estate Planning Council

Community Activities

Aldert Root Elementary Educational Foundation, Board of Directors
Saint Saviour's Center, Board of Directors
- Volunteer Bingo Caller, Carriage House
Needham B. Broughton Capital Foundation, Board of Advisors
White Memorial Presbyterian Church
- Community Service Committee
- Confirmation Partner
Friends of Joel Lane Museum House, Inc.
Wake Education Partnership
- School Finance Committee (2003-04, 2004-05)
- Quality Matters Committee (2005-06)
Needham B. Broughton High School Alumni Association