Overview

Peter Blumeyer is an attorney based in Holland & Knight's Jacksonville office and a member of the firm's Private Wealth Services Group. He focuses his practice on estate planning and administration, the law of tax-exempt/nonprofit organizations and related litigation matters. He regularly represents individuals, families, charitable organizations and institutional fiduciaries locally and throughout the country concerning issues of both Florida and federal law. In doing so, he combines skills developed across practice areas to provide a broad array of services to his clients.

Planning and Administration. Mr. Blumeyer assists clients with a spectrum of estate, general tax and charitable planning, including related asset transfer advice. He is proficient in drafting wills, a wide variety of trusts and advance directives, including powers of attorney, designations of healthcare surrogate and living wills. Relatedly, he provides representation for fiduciaries and beneficiaries in the administration of trusts and estates, with experience in matters involving will and trust interpretation and modification. Mr. Blumeyer also advocates on behalf of nonprofit organizations as beneficiaries of matured trust and estate bequests.

Nonprofit/Tax-Exempt Organizations. Mr. Blumeyer devotes a substantial portion of his practice to matters concerning nonprofit and tax-exempt organizations. Specifically, he provides counsel regarding the structuring, oversight and governance of tax-exempt entities. Related services include the creation and change of form of nonprofit entities, preparing applications for recognition of federal tax exemption, and addressing issues of regulatory and fiduciary compliance. Mr. Blumeyer has a strong working knowledge of the nuanced issues relevant to exempt organizations, including private benefit and inurement, excess benefit transactions, self-dealing, unrelated business taxable income, distribution-related requirements and fundraising.

Litigation and Dispute Resolution. Mr. Blumeyer is well-versed in the litigation of complex and high-stakes trust, estate and probate disputes as well as other fiduciary litigation in Florida and elsewhere around the country. He has experience with will and trust interpretation actions, contested probates and breach of fiduciary duty claims. He also represents charitable entities in both contested and uncontested judicial proceedings.

Previously, Mr. Blumeyer served as a law clerk to a district judge of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. Prior to joining Holland & Knight, he was an intern at Jacksonville's Office of General Counsel and at the Office of the State Attorney for the Fourth Judicial Circuit of Florida. In law school, Mr. Blumeyer served as student body president and as a member of the Moot Court Board. As a lifelong member of the Jacksonville community, he is currently involved in leadership roles in a number of local organizations that focus on improving the quality of life and education in the area.

Representative Experience

  • Drafted gift agreements for charitable contributions to a wide range of organizations under a variety of circumstances
  • Created Type I supporting organizations for clients with closely-held business interests
  • Prepared charitable lead trusts, including for a professional athlete to augment funding of existing charitable organization

  • Obtained federal determinations of tax-exemption for dozens of trust and corporate-form nonprofit entities
  • Represented large exempt organizations to facilitate distributions of charitable bequests, analyze endowment issues and defend against contested matters
  • Created private operating foundations for ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) client and family office, real estate developer with substantial art collection and client with architecturally significant home

  • Assisted family offices, client families and business executives/owners with advanced estate planning in response to changing federal transfer tax exemptions
  • Employed asset protection planning for clients with asset protection concerns, including via preparation of domestic asset protection trusts and marital agreements

  • Represented a large domestic bank in contested multimillion-dollar trust and estate administration involving trust construction/interpretation proceeding, slayer statute, IRS audit and a multimillion-dollar refund proceeding that required approval of the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation
  • Facilitated judicial/non-judicial modification and decanting of existing irrevocable trusts

  • Defended large financial institutions against claims for breach of fiduciary duty
  • Represented interests of beneficiaries against adverse fiduciaries
  • Terminated charitable trusts and private foundations into donor-advised funds or endowment funds, including World War II-era awards organization formed by well-known industrialist into Ivy League institution's endowment fund
  • Assisted with complex litigation involving estate of entrepreneur and venture capitalist

Credentials

Education
  • Vanderbilt University Law School, J.D.
  • Vanderbilt University, B.A., Political Science, summa cum laude
Bar Admissions/Licenses
  • Florida
Court Admissions
  • U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida
Memberships
  • Chapter 617 Task Force (Corporations Not For Profit Statute), The Florida Bar
  • Florida Fellows Institute of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) Class VI, Participant, 2023-Present
  • The Florida Bar, Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section, Charitable Planning and Exempt Organizations Committee, Member, 2023-Present
  • Northeast Florida Planned Giving Council, Member, 2023-Present
  • Jacksonville Country Day School, Board of Trustees, 2019-Present; Executive Committee, 2023-Present
  • Episcopal School of Jacksonville, Alumni Board, 2016-Present; President-elect, 2023-Present
  • Salvation Army of Northeast Florida, Advisory Board, 2016-Present
  • Chester Bedell American Inn of Court, Associate, 2017-2018
  • Literacy Pros of Jacksonville, Board of Directors, 2016-2017
  • HandsOn Jacksonville, Blueprint for Leadership, 2016
  • Jacksonville Bar Association
  • The Florida Bar; Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section
Honors & Awards
  • Holland & Knight Pro Bono All-Star, 2020-2021
  • Holland & Knight Public and Charitable Service All-Star, 2019
  • 30 Under 30, Volunteer Florida, 2017
  • Jordan A. Quick Memorial Award, Vanderbilt University Law School, 2015
  • Book Award, Wills & Trusts, 2014
  • Book Award, International Intellectual Property, 2014
  • Order of the Coif, Vanderbilt University Law School
Spoken Languages
  • English
  • Spanish

Publications

Speaking Engagements