Estate Planning and Wealth Preservation
Our wills, trusts, and estates practice focuses on assisting clients with planning for the administration of their assets, both during life and after death. Estate Planning is a process, and must be coordinated with our client’s lifestyle and life cycle events. Estate Planning transcends relationships, and involves both same-sex and opposite-sex family arrangements. Family events such as births, marriages, and deaths, as well as changes in residence and domicile (either moving to a new home within the same area or to a new state entirely) often create the need to review estate plans and update applicable documents. First, second, and later marriages, and marriages involving separate children, all present different planning concerns. Title and succession planning for Florida homestead real property must be addressed.
Lifetime planning includes discussion and implementation of each client’s goals and objectives specific to their personal and financial situations and concerns. Trusts, both revocable and irrevocable, are sometimes involved, as well as other planning techniques. We also assist clients with lifetime decisions involving Durable Powers of Attorney, Living Wills, Health Care Surrogate Designations, and Designations of Pre-Need Guardian. This planning also includes discussion and implementation of choices involving children, including trusts for their benefit and guardians and powers of attorney for children in the event of the incapacity of a parent or guardian.
Planning for post-mortem (after death) administration of assets includes wills, revocable trusts, and irrevocable trusts. We also advise clients on the use of life insurance to achieve estate planning goals. As part of planning for trusts, we assist in implementing choices for trustees and successor trustees.
Transfer tax planning includes estate taxes, gift taxes, and generation skipping transfer taxes. Income tax considerations must also be considered and coordinated. Our expertise in tax planning allows us to implement estate plans with a focus on transfer tax planning and income tax planning. Our plans range from simple to complex, and are tailored to meet each client's goals and objectives. We offer a personal touch to address client planning.
We work with individuals, as well as corporate trustees and financial advisors, to develop, prepare, and implement each client's estate planning.