TRUST & ESTATE PLANNING

Trust and Estate Planning includes the preparation of documents such as wills, trusts, powers of attorney, living wills and associated documents. After consultation with our clients, we prepare estate plans tailored to their individual circumstances and goals.

Our primary objective is designing a plan to ensure the client’s assets are distributed in the manner the client desires upon his or her death.  A secondary concern is limiting taxes payable upon the client’s death.  Careful attention must be paid to estate taxes, generation-skipping transfer taxes, gift taxes, income taxes on retirement benefits and capital gains taxes.  We may sometimes recommend more advanced tools such as life insurance trusts, family limited liability companies, grantor retained annuity trusts, qualified personal residence trusts, private foundations, and charitable remainder and charitable lead trusts.  For those clients who have family-owned businesses, we consider how best to transfer the business to the next generation.

We also help our clients plan for the management of their affairs in the event of their incapacity through general powers of attorney, health care powers of attorney and declarations of a desire for a natural death (living wills).