Estate Planning
Estate Planning | Wills and Trusts
In this area of practice, we assist our clients with all elements of their estate planning, including:
+ Preparation of last wills and revocable trusts, to implement dispositive desires in a tax effective manner, and to implement appropriate and effective trust arrangements to protect beneficiaries, fiduciaries, and client desires, drawing on our many years of experience relating to the drafting, administration, and dispute resolution relating to these dispositive instruments
+ Determining the need for, and the preparation of, specialty trusts to achieve specific tax and dispositive goals
+ Review and implementation of probate avoidance arrangements
+ Review and planning for beneficiary designations
+ Use of joint accounts and payable on death accounts
Transfer Tax Planning
In this area of practice, we assist clients with planning to minimize wealth transfer taxes, including through the use of:
+ Marital trusts and bequests
+ Qualified domestic trusts for noncitizen spouses
+ Annual exclusion gifts and current use of unified credit gifts, including through the use of gift trusts
+ Planning to maximize basis step-up at death in assets
+ Grantor retained annuity trusts
+ Qualified personal residence trusts
+ Sales to defective trust transactions and other sale transactions
+ Use of grantor trusts
+ Generation skipping trusts and exemption planning
+ Use of entities, such as LLCs and family partnerships
+ Use of life insurance and life insurance trusts
+ Portability planning
Planning For Family Succession And Control
In this area of practice, we assist clients in planning for family succession of control of businesses and family assets, including through the use of:
+ Trusts and selection of trustees, protectors, and powers of appointment
+ Use of family partnerships and other entities
+ Buy-sell agreements
+ Business succession plans
Prenuptial And Postnuptial Agreements
In this area of practice, we assist persons entering into marriage, or already married couples, in entering into desired or necessary agreements, including:
+ Drafting to accomplish personal, business and tax objectives
+ Handling the negotiation and drafting process in a manner that resolve disputes in a manner that minimizes conflict and other difficult aspects of negotiating agreements between spouses and soon-to-be married persons
+ Planning to avoid future challenges to agreements upon divorce or separation
Disability Planning
In this area of practice, we assist clients in planning for the possibility of mental or physical incapacity or disability, including through the use of:
+ Durable powers of appointment, preneed guardianship declarations, and medical surrogates
+ Use of trusts to provide for support and transfer of control upon disability
+ Insurance alternatives
Wealth Protection And Pre-Liability Asset Protection
In this area of practice, we assist clients in reducing exposure of their assets to claims of creditors and others, including through the use of:
+ Gifts and trusts, in conjunction with other estate planning
+ Domestic and international asset protection trusts
+ Protected asset classes for asset protection (e.g., annuities, insurance, homestead, etc.)
+ Entities for asset protection (e.g, limited liability, charging order protection, etc.)
+ Probate avoidance