Trusts & Estates

We listen to your concerns and priorities and work to implement solutions to achieve your objectives. Our goal is to provide you peace of mind that your assets will be disposed of as you intend, with minimum tax exposure. We do this in several ways:

Independence: We do not provide investment advice to our clients, as some law firms do, so we face no investment-related conflicts in our counsel and are well-positioned to work effectively with the other members of your financial team.

Personalization: We invest time to get to know you, your goals, and the people who rely on you. Then we create a customized plan for you.

Technical excellence: Our attorneys have the experience and expertise to address any estate planning situation. We stay informed and current with the latest estate planning techniques and laws.

Stability: Our partners have been with the firm an average of 25 years, and we have served many clients for multiple generations.

Proactivity: We help you anticipate opportunities and capitalize on them rather than wait for you to come to us.

Responsiveness: Time is valuable and estate planning needs may be time sensitive. We are highly responsive and work with our clients on their timelines.

Approachability: We take the time to explain the process of estate planning in a comprehensible manner so you understand the how and why of your estate plan.

Connection: We work with top-rated advisors and, upon request, regularly provide introductions, assisting our clients in building strong advisory teams.

Our client base is broad and national in scope. We tailor our approach to the size and complexity of your estate, using streamlined and efficient systems where possible but applying cutting-edge tax and estate planning techniques where necessary to preserve the most value. We help family business owners plan for orderly successions and manage liquidity events. In particular, we assist family businesses with buy-sell agreements, business succession, pre-sale tax planning, and governance. We also partner with other business advisors who specialize in family businesses to holistically resolve the issues that impede the success of our family business clients.

We also provide the following services:

• Develop, implement, and operate lifetime and/or post-death philanthropic plans;
• Assist trustees with tax and legal matters;
• Prepare gift and estate tax returns;
• Assist with gift and estate tax audits;
• Represent fiduciaries (executor and/or trustee) in the administration of estates and/or trusts upon the death of a person; and
• Represent fiduciaries and beneficiaries in estate disputes both in probate and under trusts.