Sandra Martin Clark
Sandra Martin Clark represents individuals and fiduciaries regarding strategies for Estate planning, trust planning, special needs trusts, and administrative matters. Sandy also has a broad range of experience with closely-held businesses for business matters including Mergers and Acquisitions.
Services
About
Sandra Martin Clark has practiced law since 1994 and is a partner at Manning, Fulton & Skinner, P.A. in Raleigh, North Carolina. Sandy maintains a diversified tax practice, advising clients on business, estate, and gift tax planning; family trust planning; and the settlement of large and complex estates.
Representing individuals, businesses, and charitable organizations, she helps clients plan for the orderly, tax-efficient transfer of wealth, staying current on constantly evolving federal and state tax laws. These plans are typically implemented through the drafting of trusts and wills, family investment entities, special needs trusts, grantor retained annuity trusts, and charitable trusts. She assists families with complex probate proceedings and coordinates ancillary administration of assets in other jurisdictions, and advises on trust strategies that provide protection and tax efficiency in trust administration.
With numerous multinational companies establishing a presence in North Carolina, Sandy also advises clients on the U.S. tax consequences of U.S. assets owned by non-U.S. persons, and on strategies to shelter such assets from U.S. income, estate, and gift taxes.
Sandy represents numerous privately held corporations and partnerships and has extensive experience in corporate and business transactional matters, routinely counseling clients on business plans, mergers and acquisitions, reorganizations, tax accounting issues, and a broad range of tax planning strategies. Her franchise expertise spans from assisting franchisors in developing nationwide systems that comply with state and federal franchise law to advising on marketing and distribution arrangements.
A cum laude graduate of Campbell University School of Law, Sandy is a Board Certified Specialist in Estate Planning and Probate, a Certified Public Accountant, and a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC). Sandy is the current Vice President of the Board of Governors for the North Carolina Bar Association and Vice President of the Board of Directors of the North Carolina Bar Foundation and serves on the Executive Committees of both the North Carolina Bar Association and the North Carolina Bar foundation. She is past Chair of the Estate Planning and Probate Section of the North Carolina Bar Association, past Co-Editor of the Section’s newsletter, and past Editor of the Estate Administration Manual. She previously chaired the Estate Planning and Probate Specialization Committee for the North Carolina State Bar and currently serves as President of the Wake County Estate Planning Council. Sandy also served as Chair of the Planned Giving Committee of the NC Bar Association Foundation, Inc.
Among her honors, Sandy was recognized by North Carolina Super Lawyers (2010–2026), Best Lawyers in America (2018-2026) and Legal Elite in Business, Tax and Estate Planning (2025-2026) and received the Outstanding Woman Law Graduate Award from Campbell University, presented by the National Association of Women Lawyers.
Sandy is a frequent speaker on franchise matters and estate planning and probate law for trade and professional groups, and regularly presents at continuing education seminars for attorneys, CPAs, and accountants. She is active in several charitable organizations, including Special Olympics and the YMCA, and has served on the Advisory Board and as Chairperson of the “We Build People” campaign for the Kraft YMCA.
Sandy is married with two children and resides in Cary, North Carolina.
Credentials
Education
- Campbell University School of Law (J.D., cum laude, 1994)
- Campbell University (B.B.A., cum laude, 1985)
Admitted to Practice
- State of North Carolina, 1994
- United States Tax Court, 1996
Professional Memberships & Activities
- American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC), Fellow, Fiduciary Tax Committee Member
- Licensed Certified Public Accountant
- North Carolina Bar Association
- Vice President of Board of Governors & Board of directors
- Executive Committee Member
- Estate Planning Section
- Past Chair of Development Committee & current member – NC Foundation
- Past Chair of Estate Planning and Fiduciary Law Section
- Council Member
- Estate Administration Manual Committee, Past Co-Chair
- Estate Planning Newsletter Committee, Past Co-Chair
- Tax Section
- Business Section
- Health Benefit Trust
- Board Member
- Board Certified Specialist in Estate Planning and Probate Law
- Recognized in North Carolina Super Lawyers (2010-2026) for Estate Planning & Probate, Business & Corporate
- Recognized in Best Lawyers in America (2018-2027) for Closely Held Companies and Family Businesses Law, Corporate Law, Tax Law and Trusts and Estates, (2025) for Business Organizations
- Recognized by Legal Elite, Business North Carolina (2025-2026) for Tax & Estate Planning
- Recognized with a Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review AV Rating™
- Awarded Outstanding Woman Law Graduate for Campbell University by the National Association of Woman Lawyers
- Campbell Law Review, Business Editor
- Wake County Estate Planning Council (1999 to Present), President (2015-2016)
- North Carolina Association of Certified Public Accountants (1996 to Present)
- Speaker estate planning and probate law for trade and professional groups
- Speaker at continuing education seminars for attorneys, CPAs and accountants
- Manning Fulton Practice Group Co-Leader, Corporate/Tax/Estates Section (2022 – Present)
Representative Transactions
- Structured and implemented a series of annual exclusion gifts and lifetime exemption gifts for a multi-generational family, utilizing various trust strategies to transfer appreciation on a closely-held business interest tax-efficiently
- Advised on the formation and funding of a Spousal Lifetime Access Trust (SLAT) to lock in the current gift tax exemption while preserving indirect access to trust assets
- Designed a Sale to Intentionally Defective Grantor Trust (IDGT) structure, transferring a significant portion of wealth to a family limited partnership interests at a discounted valuation while freezing the value for estate tax purposes
- Represented the founder of a closely-held company in a recapitalization to freeze the value of the company for estate tax purposes, issuing preferred and common interests to facilitate a tax-efficient transfer to the next generation
- Advised a family-owned business on the formation of a Family Limited Liability Company, achieving valuation discounts for lack of marketability and control in connection with gifts to a dynasty trust
- Counseled on a buy-sell agreement funded with life insurance to provide liquidity for estate taxes and facilitate an orderly business succession
- Structured a Dynasty Trust designed to remain outside the transfer tax system for multiple generations, allocating GST exemption to shelter the trust from generation-skipping transfer tax
- Advised high-net-worth clients on trust situs and decanting strategies to migrate existing trusts to favorable jurisdictions for tax and asset protection benefits
- Established a Charitable Trust to transfer highly appreciated assets and allowing the client to defer capital gains while generating an income tax deduction and lifetime income stream
- Counseled a client on the formation of a private foundation, including governance structure and compliance with private foundation excise tax rules
- Structured an Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust (ILIT) to hold a second-to-die policy, removing life insurance proceeds from the taxable estate and providing liquidity to pay estate taxes
- Advised on premium financing arrangements for large life insurance policies held in trust, balancing leverage against estate tax exposure
- Represented the executor of a taxable estate in the preparation and filing of a federal estate tax return (Form 706), including complex valuation issues for closely-held business interests and real estate
- Successfully defended a valuation position before the IRS in an estate tax audit, resulting in a favorable settlement and avoidance of a proposed deficiency
- Advised fiduciaries on post-mortem tax planning, including QTIP elections, disclaimers, and alternate valuation date elections to minimize overall transfer tax liability
International & Cross-Border Planning
- Advised a non-U.S. domiciliary on pre-immigration trust planning to minimize U.S. estate and gift tax exposure prior to establishing U.S. residency
Community Engagement
Special Olympics, volunteer
Kraft YMCA Advisory Board
Cary Chamber of Commerce (1999-present)
Raleigh Chamber of Commerce
- Past Member of Executive Women’s Task Force
Cary United Methodist Church
- Member
Parent -Teacher Association,
- Board Member (2001-2007)
American Heart Association
- Co-Chair (2003)
Kraft YMCA “We Build People” Campaign (2000-2015)
- Chair (2014 – 2016)
- Community Gift Chair (2005-2013)
Apex Sports Authority
- Treasurer, Non-profit (2006-2010)