Trusts and Estates

The Trusts and Estates practice group encompasses the complete range of services touching upon trusts and estates.

Estate Planning

We assist individual clients and multigenerational families, as well as blended and LGBT families with all aspects of estate planning.

The planning process may involve the preparation of living trusts and wills, financial powers of attorney, advance health care directives, charitable trusts, special needs trusts, and irrevocable life insurance trusts.

Business and Succession Planning

We design business succession plans and offer innovative solutions to help clients plan for the death, retirement or incapacity of senior family members. By utilizing estate planning and business planning tools, we can help to minimize a client’s taxes and other expenses and provide a mechanism for the continued operation of the business for the next generation.

Advising Fiduciaries

We counsel individual, professional and corporate fiduciaries, including bank trust departments, regarding the administration of trusts and decedents’ estates, elder law, end of life decisions and preparation of estate and gift tax returns.

Wealth Preservation and Charitable Planned Giving

For clients with taxable estates, we develop plans to transfer wealth in a tax-efficient manner through leveraged transfer techniques such as sales to intentionally defective grantor trusts, grantor retained annuity trusts, qualified personal residence trusts, and irrevocable life insurance trusts. For clients who are charitably inclined, we establish and structure split-interest trusts such as charitable remainder trusts and charitable lead trusts.

Trust Litigation

We represent individual and institutional trustees and beneficiaries in all aspects of litigation through trial related to trusts and estates including issues pertaining to trust or estate administration and court oversight, enforcement of trusts, claims to property, breaches of fiduciary duties, disputes among beneficiaries and claims of undue influence. Please contact Lawrence Rockwell or Daniel Newbold for more information.