F. Gant McCloud is a Board Certified Specialist in Wills, Trusts & Estates with over 20 years of legal experience and a Master’s in Tax Law. Gant specializes in the practice areas of estate planning, taxation, estate administration, probate, and trust administration. He also assists clients with business succession planning and related business entity transactions.
Gant is an expert in the preparation of wills, trusts, and related estate planning documents and counsels his clients to help them achieve their specific tax and estate planning goals. He represents individuals in planning for the distribution of family wealth and the minimization of estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer (GST) taxes.
Board Certified Specialist in Wills, Trusts & Estates
Gant is Board Certified in Wills, Trusts & Estates by The Florida Bar. Board Certification is the highest level of evaluation by The Florida Bar, identifying those attorneys who have substantial experience and who have demonstrated special knowledge, skills, and proficiency in the certified area of practice, as well as ethics and professionalism in the practice of law. Less than 0.4% of all Florida attorneys are Board Certified in Wills, Trusts & Estates.
Over 20 Years of Legal Experience
Prior to forming his own law firm, Gant spent many years as a Managing Partner at Kirk-Pinkerton, P.A., one of Sarasota’s oldest law firms with a history stretching back to the 1920s, including the representation of Sarasota pioneers like John Ringling.
Before making his home in Sarasota, Gant practiced in the trusts and estates departments of international and multistate law firms in Chicago and Philadelphia. Gant started his career in the Sears Tower with Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP, which is now Dentons, the largest law firm in the world. He was also an attorney with Sidley Austin LLP, a global law firm with more than 2,000 attorneys and 20 offices around the world.
Gant maintains licenses to practice law in Florida, Illinois, and Pennsylvania. This enables him to further assist clients who may have multiple residences or other connections in those states. In addition, Gant is admitted to the Bar of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Gant is also a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional (CFP® professional). CFP® certification is the recognized standard of excellence for competent and ethical personal financial planning.
Duke & Northwestern Law Graduate with LL.M. in Taxation
Gant is a graduate of Duke University, where he received his Bachelor of Arts (A.B.) with a double major in Political Science and Music. He earned both his Juris Doctor (J.D.) and Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Taxation, with honors, from the Northwestern University School of Law. While at Northwestern, Gant served as assistant to Professor Philip F. Postlewaite, the Director of the Graduate Tax Program, and contributed to treatises on federal income taxation, partnership taxation, and international taxation.
Client Champion Awards from Martindale-Hubbell®
Gant has received a Martindale-Hubbell Client Champion award every year since its inception in 2017, in recognition of his commitment to client service.
According to Martindale-Hubbell, Client Champion awards are intended to recognize those attorneys who excel at service as affirmed by their clients. Martindale-Hubbell has reported that fewer than 1% of all attorneys qualified to receive the award.
Rated AV Preeminent® by Martindale-Hubbell®
Gant is rated AV Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell. The AV Preeminent rating is the highest rating awarded by Martindale-Hubbell and is a testament to the fact that Gant’s peers rank him at the highest level of professional excellence.
Martindale-Hubbell® Peer Review Ratings™ reflect the anonymous opinions of members of the bar and the judiciary:
“Gant is an extremely able and caring lawyer.”
–Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review
Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Ratings fall into two main categories: general ethical standards and legal ability. An attorney’s legal ability is evaluated based on performance in five key areas: legal knowledge, analytical capabilities, judgment, communication ability, and legal experience.
Professional Memberships
Gant is a member of the Estate Planning & Probate Section of the Sarasota County Bar Association. He is also a member of both the Real Property, Probate & Trust Law and Tax Sections of The Florida Bar. In addition, he is a member of both the Trust & Estate Law and Taxation Sections of the American Bar Association.
Sarasota Community Involvement
Gant serves on the Board of Directors, as Chair of the Artist Selection Committee, and as legal counsel for the Sarasota Concert Association, Sarasota’s leading presenter of concerts by world-renowned classical musicians. Gant also served on the Board of Directors and as legal counsel for the Key Chorale of Sarasota. He is also a past member of the Key Chorale of Sarasota.
Get in Touch
Contact Gant with your questions or to request an appointment.