Our attorneys draw on their experience with counseling multiple generations of families in connection with both traditional estate planning and administration matters including wills, revocable trusts (and other testamentary substitutes), estate and trust administration, the establishment of charitable foundations and other charitable entities, and more complex planning that addresses a broad range of tax and non-tax related issues.
We represent U.S. citizens and residents and foreign nationals, and imaginatively respond to their needs, crafting estate plans using structures and entities such as limited partnerships, corporations, limited liability companies, private trust companies, and private and charitable trusts, either alone or in combination. These structures are designed to provide long-term asset transfer planning with a minimum of income, gift, estate, and other U.S. and non-U.S. transfer and asset-based taxes. Our attorneys provide advice that enables clients to efficiently transfer assets among family members and between generations, smoothly change control of family businesses, and make creative charitable donations.
Our Individual Client Services Practice emphasizes:
- Tax-efficient structures for transferring wealth to descendants, charities, and other beneficiaries
- Estate plans crafted to meet each client’s specific goals
- Complex gift tax, estate tax and corporate issues that are particular to owners of private equity and hedge funds, real estate properties and closely held businesses, as well as CEOs of public companies and those with inherited wealth
- Charitable gift structures, including private foundations and charitable lead and remainder trusts
- Transactions involving fine art, including negotiating consignment agreements with auction houses and private sale agreements, and structuring gifts to individuals and charities that address issues specific to fine art
- Matrimonial matters, including the preparation of prenuptial agreements, agreements between unmarried couples, divorce proceedings, and advice on estate planning related to divorce
In addition, we represent individual and corporate fiduciaries on the full array of their responsibilities, including estate and trust administration and probate, identifying opportunities for tax savings, preparing tax returns, and resolving disputes with beneficiaries, creditors, and the Internal Revenue Service. We have extensive experience in tax controversies presenting complex valuation issues in Internal Revenue Service audits and IRS appeals.
We also work closely with our Litigation Practice when will contests and litigation disputes arise. Our experience with contested accountings, construction proceedings, and other litigated matters affecting trusts and estates allows us to advise clients on minimizing the risk of litigation and to handle disputes when they do arise.
Our Individual Client Services team members have the skill and discretion to handle even the most sensitive and complex matters. Our lawyers have decades of trust and estate counseling experience, and are highly knowledgeable about federal and state tax laws as they relate to family businesses, charitable giving, wealth preservation, and estate planning.
