High Net Worth Estates
We assist clients facing significant estate taxes by developing strategies to minimize and/or cover such taxes. These strategies may include generation-skipping transfer tax planning, qualified personal residence trusts, family limited partnerships and limited liability companies, various types of irrevocable trusts, and life insurance planning. We also assist clients in achieving their charitable goals using various types of charitable trusts, supporting organizations, and private foundations. In addition, we advise clients concerning appropriate beneficiary designations for IRAs and employee benefit plans, which are often significant components of estates.
Succession Planning for Family Businesses
Many of our clients own family businesses. We have extensive experience helping the principals coordinate their long-term plans for their businesses with their estate planning objectives. It is important to begin succession planning well before senior family members approach retirement, but designating successors to key management positions can often create tension within and between generations. By identifying the most important business and legal issues, as well as suggesting possible solutions, our lawyers can facilitate the transition from generation to generation. For example, an irrevocable trust funded with life insurance can be used to equalize transfers among children when not all children are involved in the business. Our capabilities also include coordinating the related work of appraisers and accountants and preparing complex federal gift tax returns when gifts are used as part of the plan
Tax Planning for Family Businesses
We help clients minimize the impact of the federal estate tax so as to avoid having to liquidate the family business when the majority shareholder passes away. We can recommend planning techniques that will allow our clients to leverage their credits and exclusions against the various transfer taxes. These techniques include grantor-retained annuity trusts, sales to defective grantor trusts, family limited partnerships or limited liability companies, and irrevocable trusts funded with life insurance.
Charitable Gift Planning
Many of our clients are charitably inclined and often try to fulfill their charitable goals in creative ways. We advise clients on the use of various charitable trusts, private foundations, donor advised funds, supporting organizations and other types of charitable gifts. We also advise clients on how to make sure that their charitable wishes are carried out once a gift is made.