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  3. Travis M. Cavanaugh
Travis  M.  Cavanaugh

Travis M. Cavanaugh Member

Contact Information

(319) 896-4133 (319) 366-1917 tcavanaugh@spmblaw.com Cedar Rapids, IA
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Victoria Bauer

Victoria Bauer

Legal Assistant

(319) 896-4092 vbauer@spmblaw.com

Practice Area

  • Business Transactions and Counseling
  • Estate Planning and Private Wealth
  • Taxation Law
  • Mergers, Acquisitions, and Divestitures
  • Banking and Finance

Bar Admissions

  • State of Iowa, 2012

Education

  • University of Iowa College of Law, JD with Distinction, 2012
  • University of Iowa, BBA, 2007
    • Accounting
    • Management Information Sciences

Travis Cavanaugh advises individuals and business clients regarding estate and wealth transfer planning, general business and corporate law, and tax matters. Mr. Cavanaugh’s prior experience as a public accountant at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Chicago provides useful insight into tax implications as it relates to personal and business succession planning, gift and estate tax planning, and general business transactions.

Corporate Transactions and Business Counseling. Mr. Cavanaugh advises businesses of all sizes and their owners and officers regarding entity organization, operations, governance, reorganization, and tax and succession planning, which includes the review, negotiations and drafting of contracts related to mergers, sales and purchases of assets or stock, reorganizations, redemptions and buy-sell agreements.

Estate Planning, Wills, Trusts, Probate and Wealth Transfer. Mr. Cavanaugh advises clients regarding gift and estate tax planning, succession planning for family businesses and charitable gifting. In addition, he drafts wills, revocable and irrevocable trusts, powers of attorney, premarital agreements and estate and gift tax returns.

Probate/Trust Administration. To help clients after the loss of a family member. Mr. Cavanaugh assists clients with the administration of trusts and estates and works to resolve trust and estate controversies.

Taxation. Mr. Cavanaugh advises individual and business clients regarding the tax aspects (income, gift, estate and generation-skipping transfer) of proposed business transactions, pass-through entities (limited liability companies, partnerships and S corporations) and estate planning techniques.

Honors & Awards

  • Heart of America Fellows Institute of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, 2024 Graduate
  • Included in Chambers USA High Net Worth Up and Coming, 2024
  • Included in the Best Lawyers in America® list, 2025
    • Corporate Law, Mergers and Acquisitions Law, Trusts and Estates
  • Included in Great Plains Super Lawyers list, 2024
    • Estate & Probate
  • Included in Great Plains Super Lawyers Rising Star list, 2014-2022
    • Estate & Probate
  • Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce Community Leadership Program (CLP) Graduate, 2015

Professional & Community Affiliations

Professional Memberships

  • Iowa Academy of Trust & Estate Counsel, Member
  • Cedar Rapids Area Estate Planning Council, Member
    • Past, Board of Directors
  • Iowa State Bar Association
    • Probate, Trust & Estate Planning Law Section
      • Trust Code Committee
    • Business Law Section
  • Linn County Bar Association

Community Involvement

  • United Way of East Central Iowa
    • Former Member, Financial Stability Solutions Team

Publications & Presentations

Publication

  • Author, Iowa Can do Better than the Affiliate Tax: A Proposal for an Intermediary Tax, 97 Iowa L. Rev. 567 (2012)

2022 Presentation

  • Gift Tax Returns, ISBA Bloethe Tax School, 12/1/2022
  • Tips for Gift Tax Returns, ISBA Probate CLE, 9/15/2022

2019 Presentations

  • Estate Planning Basics, First Presbyterian Church, 9/30/19
  • Step-Up Basis Rules and Planning, Iowa State Bar Association Webinar, 4/17/19

2018 Presentation

  • Estate Planning Basics, Financing of Caregiving, Family Caregivers Center of Mercy, 3/14/18

2017 Presentations

  • Legislative Update: 2017 Iowa Probate and Trust Law Changes, Annual Meeting of the Iowa State Bar Association, 6/20/17
  • Succession Planning for the Optional Aspects of Iowa Rule 39.18 Governing Succession Plans for Sole Practitioner Attorneys, Iowa State Bar Association Seminar, 4/10/17

2016 Presentations

  • Estate and Charitable Planning, Cornell College, 10/22/16
  • Capital Financing Options for Hospitals, Iowa Hospital Association, 5/19/16

2014 Presentation

  • Qualified 501(c)(3) Bonds, Banking and Finance Webinar, 11/4/14

Presentations

View our archived presentation library!

News & Events

2024

  • Travis Cavanaugh Included in Best Lawyers in America® 2025, 8/15/2024
  • Travis Cavanaugh Listed in Chambers HNW Up and Coming 2024, 08/07/2024
  • Travis Cavanaugh Graduates from the Heart of America Fellows Institute, 06/11/2024
  • Travis Cavanaugh Listed in 2024 Great Plains Super Lawyers, 05/29/2024

2023

  • Travis Cavanaugh Included in Best Lawyers in America® 2024, 08/17/2023

2022

  • Travis Cavanaugh Presents at 2022 Bloethe Tax School, 11/22/2022
  • Travis Cavanaugh Included in Best Lawyers in America® 2023, 08/19/2022
  • Travis Cavanaugh Listed in 2022 Great Plains Rising Stars, 07/28/22

2021

  • Best Lawyers® 2022, 08/19/2021

2020

  • Best Lawyers In America Recognizes 37 SPMB Attorneys, 08/20/2020
  • 2020 Great Plains Super Lawyers Announced, 07/31/2020

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