Revocable Living Trusts, Wills, and Powers of Attorney

We assist clients establish or update their estate plan including the implementation of revocable living trusts, last wills & testaments, powers of attorney for financial affairs, and advanced health care directives and living wills to ease the burden of end of life planning.  Because every client is unique, we focus on understand your family history, significant assets, particular joys and or concerns about family members, your charitable inclinations and other important information to create a bespoke plan suited to meet your family's needs. Furthermore, we take special efforts to maximize any possible tax benefits, while providing maximal protection of your descendant's inheritance from their creditors or future divorcing spouses.

Finally, along with efficiently delivering important legal documents, we take particular pride in education so you have a full and complete understanding of your plan.

Family Wealth Preservation

As one our nation's greatest contemporary poets and philosophers, Christopher Wallace (a.k.a. the Notorious B.I.G., "Biggie Smalls") said: "mo' money, mo' problems".  While this phrase is not universally true, as tax educated estate planners, we are aware of unique issues relating to the management and preservation of wealth.  That is why we are able to combine our traditional estate planning techniques with substantial experience with high net and ultra high net worth clients to take planning a step further by considering:

• Ways to effectively use life insurance to provide estate liquidity while also reducing eventual estate tax liability on the proceeds by establishing:

  • Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts (ILIT)

• Utilizing gift and estate tax exemption gifting strategies to freeze the value of an estate, with planning strategies such as:

  • Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts (GRAT);

  • Qualified Personal Residence Trusts (QPRT);

  • Sales to Intentionally Defective Grantor Trusts (IDGT)

  • Family Limited Partnership/Limited Liability Company (FLP/FLLC)

  • Generation Skipping Trusts (GST Trusts, aka "Dynasty Trusts")

• Implementation of income tax efficient charitable gifting strategies, such as:

  • Charitable Remainder Trusts (CRT)

  • Grantor Charitable Lead Annuity Trust (CLAT)

  • Establishment of a Private Foundation

  • Establishing a Donor Advised Funds (“DAF”)

• The protection of Second Amendment rights through implementation of:

  • NFA Title II Firearms Trusts (“Gun Trusts”)

Irrespective of the strategy or strategies deployed, throughout the planning process we work closely with individuals and families and their trusted advisors to encourage engagement with younger generations to educate and instill the sense of responsibility needed to maintain and build upon what you have earned.

Estate Planning Solutions for Special Circumstances

Every family has unique circumstances, which often requires specialized, bespoke solutions.  To that end, we provide:

• Counseling to parents and family members of individuals with specials needs where a special/supplemental needs trust is appropriate to ensure proper care and ongoing access to public benefits;

• Specialized planning to guarantee strict control of estate assets with respect to descendants and/or family beneficiaries with ongoing mental health or substance abuse issues.

• Advice to clients regarding tax efficient ways to dispose of assets with substantial built in gain due to ownership of assets with little or no basis.

• The rendition of advice to clients regarding:

• The utility of, and, if necessary, the negotiation and preparation of prenuptial in contemplation of marriage, or a postnuptial agreement or property transmutation agreement where suitable for financial/estate planning purposes;

• The consequences of and legal interplay between community property states (such as Arizona or California) and traditional marital property state, and the consequences regarding property ownership rights in the context of a death or divorce.

Representative Clients

• Founders and C-Level executives of Fortune 500 and Russell 2000 companies;

• Professional Athletes;

• Owners of successful private companies;

• Entrepreneurs, Venture Capitalists, and Private Equity Investors;

• Real Estate Developers and Investors;

• Professionals including physicians, attorneys, accountants, executives, etc.;

• Philanthropically inclined individuals