Estate Planning & Wealth Preservation

Planning is the foundation of the Estates & Trusts practice area, and we spend much of our time designing and implementing comprehensive estate plans. This includes sophisticated planning, such as the formulation of complicated federal estate tax planning strategies, planning for the distribution of IRAs and other qualified retirement plans, and the development of ownership succession strategies for family business owners and other entrepreneurs.

We also assist with fundamental planning involving the drafting of Wills, Trusts, Powers of Attorney, and Living Wills. Whether a client’s wealth is significant or more modest, our planning may also include a focus on asset protection, which could include planning for the payment of long-term care and Medicaid availability for the elderly, setting up special needs trusts and other vehicles for the disabled, or working with high net worth clients to protect their assets from future claims. Our approach is to provide full-service solutions, handling all types and sizes of estates and trusts, and providing comprehensive tax planning as part of the estate plans.

Our more fundamental estate planning engagements typically involve the development of the following:

  • Wills, and if appropriate, Revocable Trusts
  • Powers of Attorney and Living Wills
  • Beneficiary Designations for Life Insurance and Retirement Plans

 

More involved and sophisticated estate planning may involve the strategies using:

  • Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts
  • Funded Revocable Trusts
  • Transfers of business interests and certain investment assets via Family Limited Partnerships (FLPs) and Family Limited Liability Companies (FLLCs)
  • Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts (GRATs), Grantor Retained Unitrusts (GRUTs), and Grantor Retained Income Trusts (GRITs)
  • Charitable Remainder Trusts and Charitable Lead Trusts
  • Private Foundations
  • Qualified Personal Residence Trusts (QPRTs)
  • Sales and gifts to Irrevocable Grantor Trusts
  • Domestic Asset Protection Trusts
  • Limited Liability Companies and similar entities for family asset protection
  • Qualified Domestic Trusts (QDOTs) for non-citizen spouses
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