Cindy Wofford joined Freeman Law as Senior Counsel in 2022. Ms. Wofford brings to the firm over 40 years of tax controversy and estate planning/probate experience, 20 years with the IRS’s Office of Chief Counsel in Washington, D.C. and Dallas; the remainder with firms in Washington, D.C., Dallas, and Houston.
IRS Counsel’s National Office is charged with formulating the IRS’s litigating position in cases pending before federal courts. As a National Office attorney, Ms. Wofford primarily focused on collection due process litigation policy and strategy. The tax code requires the IRS to follow certain laws and procedures prior to filing a notice of federal tax lien or issuing a levy to collect a taxpayer’s unpaid taxes. “CDP” allows certain delinquent taxpayers to test whether the IRS followed these laws and procedures in Tax Court. Among her National Office functions, Ms. Wofford reviewed briefs, motions and memoranda to be filed with the Tax Court in CDP cases. She drafted sections of the first CDP Guidebook. She also prepared and reviewed published and internal guidance relating to liens, levies and other collection issues.
Ms. Wofford left the IRS Counsel’s National Office for its Small Business/Self-Employed (SB/SE) Dallas office. While in SB/SE, Ms. Wofford handled over 840 docketed Tax Court cases, from case analysis and development to trial and briefing or settlement. Ms. Wofford also served as a CDP resource to SB/SE attorneys and appeals officers in and out of Texas for 18 years. She participated regularly in internal/external attorney and CDP settlement officer trainings at the local, regional and national levels.
Prior to her government service, Ms. Wofford practiced in private firms, focusing on estate planning and probate and family law. Ms. Wofford drafted premarital and marital agreements, wills, and trusts, advised clients on divorce-related tax issues, and she represented clients seeking innocent spouse relief before the IRS. She handled the administration of estates ranging from small estates to estates in excess of $10 million. Ms. Wofford was also active in the ABA Tax Section, serving as chair and vice-chair of the Domestic Relations Committee. During this time, she was the committee’s liaison with the IRS.
While in private practice, Ms. Wofford wrote extensively for various legal publications. Ms. Wofford is the author of the Tax Management portfolios, Divorce and Separation, TM 515 and 5152nd, treatises on tax laws and cases affecting divorced and divorcing taxpayers.
Ms. Wofford earned a J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law and a LL.M (Taxation) from Southern Methodist University School of Law.
