Trusts and Estates

At Davis Wright Tremaine, we understand how important it is to maintain and protect assets for those you care most about: your family and your charitable interests.

We listen to your concerns and priorities and implement strategic solutions to achieve your objectives and structure your legacy. Our goal is to provide you peace of mind that your assets will ultimately be disposed of as you intend, with the minimum of taxes to be paid. We do this in several ways:

• Personal touch: We provide you with personalized attention, treating every project as unique. We invest time to get to know you, your goals, and the people who rely on you. We then create a customized relationship and options to help you arrive at a solution that works best for you.
• Technical excellence: Our attorneys have the experience and expertise to address any estate planning situation. We are committed to staying informed and current with the latest techniques. We regularly receive awards and recognition, and most of our partners have been elected to the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC), the highest level of national recognition.
• Stable: Our partners have been with the firm an average of 30 years and we have served many clients for multiple generations. We will be here when you need us.
• Proactive: We do not wait for you to come to us when a problem arises. We help you recognize opportunities and capitalize on them. We reach out to ensure you are aware of changes in relevant laws and regulations so that you are able to respond in a timely, appropriate way.

Our client base is broad:

• We help clients who have large, complex estates with cutting-edge tax planning and asset management.
• We represent both fiduciaries and beneficiaries in estate disputes both in probate and under trusts.
• We help business owners plan for an orderly succession and manage the proceeds of liquidity events.
• We assist trustees with tax and legal matters that arise from their trustee duties.
• For people with more standard needs, we have constructed an efficient, cost-effective model to minimize your administrative hassles and help you provide security and certainty to loved ones.

Family Business Planning. Many of our trusts and estates attorneys regularly advise business owners and their families on the issues peculiar to family businesses including buy-sell agreements, business succession, pre-sale tax planning, communication, and governance. We are experienced at working collaboratively with outside advisors to focus on the issues that contribute to the success of the family business.

Because we do not provide investment advice to our clients, as some law firms do, we face no investment-related conflicts in our counsel and are well-positioned to work effectively with the other members of your financial team. We work with top-rated advisors and regularly provide introductions, assisting our clients in building strong advisory teams.