In planning a client’s estate, we balance tax and non-tax issues to prepare wills and trusts that minimize tax and maximize wealth that is passed to beneficiaries over generations. We customize each estate plan to meet the  family’s unique goals and issues. We assist our clients with a wide variety of estate planning issues, including coordinating retirement plans with the estate plan, formulating a business succession strategy, advising on tax advantaged charitable giving opportunities and tax advantaged methods for saving for education, and assisting clients to protect their assets from creditors.

Elder law deals with the legal issues affecting the elderly and the disabled. Many older clients are concerned about what will happen to a spouse, family member, and their money and property if the client goes into a nursing home. Our lawyers are able to use sound legal strategies to preserve client assets from nursing home costs.

After the loss of a loved one, surviving family members can look to us for assistance with the estate and trust administration process from admitting the will to probate to making distributions to beneficiaries. Each step is administered with an eye toward minimizing tax. We represent personal representatives and beneficiaries with all issues that may arise, including filing state and federal estate and inheritance tax returns, filing estate and trust accountings, assisting with guardianships, advising on post-mortem tax saving strategies, and filing annual estate and trust income tax returns. Our lawyers represent executors and beneficiaries in probate litigation cases such as will contests, approving or contesting an accounting, or determining the rightful heirs to an estate or trust.