Our Estate Planning Group is the heart and core of the firm. The practice is composed of more than half of our attorneys, individuals with a passion for the complex tax and personal issues of our clients. Our team’s manageable size and vast experience allow us to offer sophisticated and innovative estate planning at an affordable cost.
Our attorneys understand that the estate planning process can be overwhelming and that clients may be concerned about discussing personal details of their lives. Whether our clients are our neighbors and friends, independent business owners or executives at Fortune 500 companies, we put our clients at ease, listen to their dreams for a legacy and guide them toward an estate plan uniquely designed for them. We strive to build long term relationships where clients will reach out to us as questions arise or circumstances change.
We frequently create joint trusts for our married clients, a planning technique that sets us apart from other firms in the city. We find that many couples are more comfortable maintaining a joint form of ownership. This single trust structure simplifies funding and managing the trust, yet includes sophisticated tax-savings techniques.
Our practice entails all matters related to both lifetime and post-mortem estate planning, including:
- Preparing the core estate planning documents: wills, revocable trusts and powers of attorney for health care and property
- Advising clients on lifetime gifts, charitable gifts and estate tax reduction strategies
- Counseling clients with non-traditional or blended families
- Representing clients regarding premarital agreements
- Developing a succession plan or exit strategy for a closely-held business
- Creating special needs trusts for a disabled child or family member
- Helping grandparents develop an educational gifting program for grandchildren
- Preparing gift tax returns, generation-skipping tax returns, and personal and fiduciary income tax returns
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