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W. Gerald Thornton began his legal career as a tax attorney in the Chief Counsel’s Office, Internal Revenue Service in September 1967. He was stationed in Louisville, KY where he got a variety of experience in handling tax matters. Within three weeks of passing the North Carolina Bar Exam, he was presenting his first case before the United States Tax Court. Before his recent passing in September of 2023, he represented the government in a variety of audits, collections, and general litigation matters in federal and state courts. He also had extensive experience negotiating with taxpayers, their attorneys, and with revenue agents and appeals officers to resolve tax matters.
About
On September 1, 1970, Gerald joined Manning Fulton & Skinner to concentrate on the practice of business and tax law. Over his career, he represented clients of all sizes from individuals to large corporations; tangled with most sections of the Internal Revenue Code; drafted documents and handled closings for the purchase of businesses ranging into the hundreds of millions of dollars in almost every state, Canada, and Mexico. He had major clients in the distribution business, agricultural business, publishing business, automotive business, and manufacturing business.
Before his passing in September of 2023, he helped businesses of all sizes grow through strategic tax planning, employee benefits planning, and a wide variety of merger and acquisition transactions. He attended meetings of the board of directors to advise them on sensitive corporate and tax matters as well as transaction structures, fiduciary duties, and transaction negotiations.
Gerald had extensive experience in helping individuals preserve their assets through tax and estate planning. He assisted many families to meet the challenge of asset management and family business preservation from one generation to another. He was skilled at setting up trusts, family limited liability companies, partnerships, insurance trusts, and other vehicles to accomplish family financial planning goals and business succession plans at the least amount of tax costs.
Gerald was a Fellow of the American College of Trusts and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) and the American College of Tax Counsel and had been selected for twenty-five consecutive years to be listed in Best Lawyers in America©. He was recognized in North Carolina Super Lawyers (2006-2015) and had an AV rating by Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory and many other honors for his service in the legal profession, in his church, and in the community.
Credentials
Education
- University of North Carolina School of Law (J.D., 1967)
- University of North Carolina (B.S. in Business Administration, major in Accounting, 1964)
Admitted to Practice
- State of North Carolina, 1967
- United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, 1971
- United States Tax Court, 1967
Professional Activities
- American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, Fellow
- American College of Tax Counsel, Fellow
- Listed in The Best Lawyers in America© in the Corporate Law and Tax Law (1987-2021) and Trust and Estates (2021)
- Recognized in North Carolina Super Lawyers (2006-2019), Top 100 list (2010)
- Listed among Business North Carolina magazine’s Legal Elite (2002, 2003, 2008 & 2009) in the areas of Tax and Estate Planning
- J. Nelson Young Tax Institute, University of North Carolina School of Law
- Member of Advisory Board
- North Carolina Bar Association
- American Bar Association
Community Engagement
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
- Past Stake President
- Past Bishop
- Past Counselor to Mission President
- 1st Counselor – Recorder, Raleigh North Carolina Temple