Sheila Moragas is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and is a Board Certified Estate Planning and Administration Specialist, as certified by the Board of Specialization of the Louisiana State Bar Association. Ms. Moragas is a member of the New Orleans Estate Planning Council, the Elder Law Task Force of the Louisiana Bar Association, National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, Inc., and Academy of Special Needs Planners, and is an AV Preeminent rated attorney with Martindale-Hubbell. She is co-author, beginning with the 2012 – 2013 Supplement, of “Estate Planning in Louisiana” (Thomson West, 1991). She is also an adjunct professor at Loyola University New Orleans School of Law where she teaches "Elder and Disabled Law."
Ms. Moragas advises clients who are, or who have family members who are, elderly or disabled, including drafting of first-party and third-party special needs trusts, acts of procuration (powers of attorney), health care powers of attorney, living wills, and other advance directives. She assists and advises individual and professional trustees on matters impacting eligibility for governmental benefits, including an understanding of Supplemental Security Income, Social Security Disability Income, Medicaid, and Medicare.
Ms. Moragas also structures sophisticated gift and estate tax planning, including drafting of last wills and testaments, living wills, inter vivos and testamentary trusts, and family businesses. She handles the probate of estates, including ancillary estates, as well as tutorships and interdictions.
Ms. Moragas assists non-profit, charitable organizations and private foundations in satisfying and maintaining federal taxation exemption requirements. And she advises and assists in drafting qualifying charitable gifting documents (ie., charitable remainder trusts, charitable lead trust, charitable gift annuities).
Professional Honors and Activities
Selected to be listed in the New Orleans Magazine’s 2019, Top Lawyers in New Orleans, Louisiana, November issue. Selected as a Louisiana Super Lawyer 20008-2014; 2020-2022.
