Rhonda L. Griswold

For over 30 years, Rhonda has concentrated her practice in estate and trust planning, including the preparation of wills and trusts, using a variety of planning devices to reduce estate and gift taxes, and to make sure that her clients’ assets pass seamlessly and efficiently to their beneficiaries.

As Chair of the Trusts and Estates Department at Cades Schutte, Rhonda’s practice encompasses advising clients as to all areas of estate planning, from basic wills and trusts to more sophisticated planning such as generation-skipping dynasty trusts, sales to irrevocable trusts, qualified domestic trusts, charitable gifts, and family limited partnership planning.

Her practice integrates the personal and estate tax planning concerns of individuals with tax and business planning for their closely-held businesses, and other legacy properties. Rhonda works closely with her clients and other advisors to create and implement personally tailored strategies to preserve assets and transmit wealth while minimizing transfer taxes. She advises clients on all aspects of high-net-worth trust administration, including valuation issues, allocation of assets, and funding trusts. She is often sought after to counsel on the appropriate use of trusts, partnerships, LLCs, and other vehicles to achieve planning goals.

Her significant reputation as a preeminent litigator is based on 30 years of extensive experience in all aspects of estate litigation, including: probate, trust, and guardianship litigation and appeals, will and trust contests, and cases involving capacity, undue influence, determination of beneficiaries, spousal elective share, estate claims, and breach of fiduciary duty, and claims.

Rhonda also advises fiduciaries and financial institutions in connection with their fiduciary duties, including probate proceedings, state and federal gift tax return preparation and audits, and trust and estate accounting proceedings.

A Fellow in the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, Rhonda is also a court-appointed member on the State of Hawai‘i Committee on Uniform Probate Code and Probate Court Practices. She is ranked in Band 1 for Private Wealth Law in the Chambers & Partners, High Net Worth Guide. She was selected by her peers to be included in Best Lawyers in America^® since 2003. Rhonda has been listed in Honolulu Magazine’s “Best Lawyers in Hawai‘i” for the same period. She has a Martindale-Hubbell’s Peer Review rating of AV (highest level of professional excellence for attorneys admitted to the bar for 10 years or more), and has been identified as one of Hawai‘i’s Super Lawyers^®.

Rhonda is a member of the American Bar Association, the Hawaii State Bar Association, Gift and Estate Tax Section (former Chair), former President and current Director of Hawaii Women’s Legal Foundation, Secretary and Director of the Hawaii Justice Foundation, former President of the Hawaii State Bar Association, and Treasurer and Director of the Cades Foundation.