ESTATE PLANNING

Wills and Trusts  The basic estate planning documents include Wills, Trusts (for management of assets during one’s life and after death), Medical Durable Powers of Attorney and General Durable Powers of Attorney.  A combination of some or all of these documents will be important to any party deciding how to proceed with estate planning.  Our estate planning attorneys can assist and advise our clients in their decision-making process in selecting the estate planning tools appropriate for their needs.  Our estate planning attorneys can also assist and advise on matters of insurance, structured ownership of assets, structured ownership of business and corporate interests, and lifetime gifting.

Trust and Estate Administration Carrying out the wishes of one who has created estate planning documents often involves assisting persons who have been named as fiduciaries in those estate planning documents.  Our estate planning attorneys can assist those fiduciaries, whether personal representatives, trustees, executors or agents in carrying out the wishes expressed in such estate planning documents.  We can provide the assistance necessary for the fiduciary to be assured that he or she is both carrying out the wishes expressed in the estate planning documents as well as meeting all statutory requirements of a fiduciary.

We also represent beneficiaries who may require separate counsel on matters relating to the administration of a Will or a Trust.

Experience Our estate planning attorneys have the experience to assist in all areas of estate planning and administration, as well as access to any specialists necessary to deal with unique demands.  We recognize that all situations are different and require special consideration to insure minimization of tax burden as well as an orderly administration of both family needs as well as business relationships that are affected by the estate planning desires of one or more family members.  We are also experienced in advising family members when their estate planning desires may differ one from another and may require the services of other attorneys to assist in such planning.

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