Our Team

Elysa R. Merlin, ESQ., LL.M.

Background

Elysa R. Merlin is a partner at Perlow, Kornik Dorot & Bensimon PLLC, focusing primarily in the field of international and domestic wealth planning. Her practice includes estate planning, pre-immigration, and expatriation planning for non-U.S. persons, and planning for foreign investment in U.S. real property. Elysa also focuses on international and domestic tax controversy, business planning, and charitable planning.

Elysa is a native of Miami, Florida where she attended Ransom Everglades School. She graduated cum laude from The George Washington University with a Bachelor of Business Administration and a concentration in Business Economics and Public Policy. Elysa earned her law degree from the University of Florida Levin College of Law and she obtained a Certificate in Trusts & Estates. Elysa then graduated from the Georgetown University Law Center with an LL.M. in Taxation and she received a Certificate in Estate Planning.

Prior to joining Perlow, Kornik, Dorot & Bensimon PLLC, Elysa practiced international taxation at the Miami office of a national law firm.

Bar and Court Admissions

• Florida Bar

Education

• Georgetown University Law Center, LL.M. in Taxation, Estate Planning Certificate
• University of Florida Levin College of Law, Juris Doctorate, Trusts & Estates Certificate
• The George Washington University, B.B.A., Business Economics and Public Policy

Publications

• Author, “Buying America! Foreign Investment in U.S. Real Property: Recap and New Developments,” The Florida Bar Journal, April 2017.
• Author, “How to Make Lifetime Transfers Without Gift Tax Exposure: Effectively Funding a Grantor Trust with Debt,” The Florida Bar Tax Section Bulletin, Spring/Summer 2016.

Affiliations

• Tax Section of The Florida Bar
• Greater Miami Tax Institute, Vice President

Awards

• 2015-2016 New Tax Lawyer Fellowship of the Tax Section of the Florida Bar
• Recognized as a “Rising Star” in the field of tax law by Super Lawyer Magazine 2019-2021.

Languages

• English
• Conversant in Spanish