Robert Bergman

Hi. I'm estate planning attorney and counselor at law Robert P. Bergman, or "Bob" to my family, friends, clients and business colleagues. I am married to Jennifer A. Lotz, who is also Of Counsel to my practice. I am a Certified Legal Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law, certified by the California State Bar Board of Legal Specialization.

I was born in Tripoli, Libya, to an Italian mother. While there, I was adopted by my parents, a United States Air Force officer and his wife. I became a U.S. citizen in 1960, and lived with my family in Ypisilanti, Michigan, Colorado Springs, Colorado, the island of Bermuda, and finally in the Tidewater region of Virginia, before my father retired in 1968.

Our family moved to the Santa Clara Valley in 1968, where I attended school in Sunnyvale, later graduating from St. Francis High School in Mountain View. After a year at U.C. Berkeley, I returned to the Silicon Valley to complete my college at De Anza Jr. College, San Jose State University, and finally at Santa Clara Law School. I was admitted to the California Bar in 1980.

As an estate planning attorney, I teach people how to take maximum advantage of the tax and inheritance laws to quickly and inexpensively pass their estates on to their heirs after death. I also assist my clients with strategies to legally protect their hard-earned assets from frivolous lawsuits, and to protect the inheritance they are passing on to their heirs from creditors' claims, divorce, and bankruptcy.

My father, who was a successful real estate broker after his Air force career, always told me that, "if you provide more service to your clients than they expect, you will never be out of business." I enjoy my profession and I derive great satisfaction knowing that I am helping my clients achieve their planning goals and dreams.

On the lighter side, I have sung and acted with several local performing arts companies, including the Children's Music Theater of San Jose (formerly the San Jose Children's Musical Theater) while in college, and later the Lamplighters of San Francisco, the Stanford Savoyards, Lyric Theatre (Gilbert & Sullivan Society of San Jose), Mission City Opera, the West Valley Light Opera Association, the Sunnyvale Community Players and the South Bay Music Theater (Saratoga Drama Group). I am also an avid military historian and collector of war games and miniatures.