San Francisco Bay Area Estate Planning Attorneys

Martin J. Tierney | Dewey Watson | Brian S. Healy
Evelyn A. Low | Benjamin C. Sanchez | Frederick Daily | Oliver M. Silsby III

Dewey Watson Meetings also available in Sebastopol, by appointment only.

Dewey Watson, Attorney at Law

Estate Planning | Business Succession | Tax Law | Real Estate

Dewey Watson has represented many high-profile financial institutions, real estate and manufacturing interests for over 38 years. During the same time he has represented countless individuals dealing with the issues of estate planning, of death, and of succession planning.

Dewey has practiced in the areas of corporate tax law and litigation, regulatory compliance and administrative proceedings. In addition, he has built a substantial practice in matters affecting creditors' rights and asset management. Mr. Watson's tax law expertise was honed over years of representing corporate and individual clients before the U.S. Tax Court, U.S. District Court, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals; as well as the IRS and California's taxation agencies.

His clients have included Chicago Title Insurance Company; Founders Title Company; Pacific Guarantee Mortgage Corporation; Sears Mortgage Corporation; Molton, Allen, Williams Corporation; National Mortgage Corporation; Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation; the Resolution Trust Corporation; Financial Center Bank; Golden Gate Bank; The Kissell Company; Granny Goose Foods Inc.; and Cendant Mortgage Corporation.

Dewey is an active participant in the mortgage banking community and was a member of the California Mortgage Banker's Association Legal Issues Committee for 20 years. He has served as outside counsel to the California Association of Mortgage Brokers and has participated on the Real Estate Finance Advisory Committee of the California Department of Real Estate.

In addition, Mr. Watson is a licensed real estate broker and is the broker of record for national corporations doing mortgage lending in California.

For several years, he taught the graduate real estate tax course at Golden Gate University in San Francisco. He has also taught the real property course at various bay area law schools.

Aside from his graduate teaching, Mr. Watson has delivered hundreds of presentations to real estate interests on developments in Section 1031 (Tax Deferred Exchanges) and has written articles for numerous publications on various aspects of litigation management and real estate development.

In the area of succession planning, Mr. Watson has dealt with the issues of illness, infirmity, death and succession since he wrote his first Will in 1972. He has seen the changes that have occurred in the way we face the last experience of our lives and the way we feel about succession. With an advanced degree in tax law, he has worked with the changes in the estate and gift tax laws and has helped hundreds of clients avoid the pitfalls of leaving their estate to chance. He understands that the issues of retirement planning and succession should be viewed holistically, beyond the drafting of documents. His goal is to work with his clients and their advisors to insure not only that their families will be provided for but also that their own lives will be as fruitful and comfortable as their financial and emotional situation permits. He is a member of the California Association of Senior Estate Planners and a sponsor of Estate Protection Plan.

Dewey is a past President of the Piedmont Council of Boy Scouts of America. He is also a founding Trustee of the Bay Area Coalition for Equitable Schools, which is spearheading the Small Schools Initiative in the City of Oakland. He is former President of the Piedmont Unified School District Board of Trustees.

Dewey is a former two-term Senior Warden at St. John's Episcopal Church, Oakland, CA.

Prior to associating with Tierney Watson & Healy, he was a partner at Tarkington, O'Connor & O'Neill, and before that, Watson & Joiner.

Dewey graduated from Hastings College of Law in 1971 and received his LL.M. in taxation in 1982 from Golden Gate University.