Trusts & Estates
We counsel families on every aspect of estate planning to ensure trouble free and tax efficient succession of their estates. We evaluate each unique situation to achieve our clients’ wealth transfer goals. This often involves shifting benefits to family members or other loved ones, or to charitable organizations. With careful design, a wide range of goals may be achieved.
The revocable portion of a client’s plan is the cornerstone and primary workhorse of their estate plan. Often employing a will or revocable trust, it should be designed to last for generations, with flexibility and tax efficiency built in throughout. The family’s unique goals and values should be expressed through this plan in order to leave a flourishing legacy to family members or charitable organizations. The primary estate plan should also be well-coordinated with the family’s other irrevocable trusts and business entities so that the sum total of these moving parts results in a clearly understood and intentionally-designed plan.
Irrevocable trusts and other structures are often added to an estate plan in order to achieve tax savings, enhanced asset protection and management, or the benefit of more favorable laws in various jurisdictions. On the tax planning front, Stradling attorneys counsel clients on the overall optimization between wealth transfer taxes, including estate, gift, and generation skipping transfer taxes, and income taxes. Although we certainly advise clients when there are clear benefits to be achieved through any of these strategies, we also advise on the risks and benefits when tradeoffs would need to be made, and sometimes advise on why clients may or may not wish to pursue a particular strategy.
Special planning opportunities and tax rules may exist for business founders and for the managers of private equity, venture capital, real estate, and hedge funds. Stradling’s private wealth attorneys work alongside its corporate and fund attorneys to devise effective tax and wealth transfer strategies for clients in these roles, and with knowledge of the special laws and opportunities available.
Rounding out our estate planning services, Stradling attorneys:
- Prepare family partnership agreements
- Prepare business buy-sell agreements
- Advise on the constructive use of life insurance products
- Restructure or recapitalize clients’ business entities, and otherwise offer a full suite of services to facilitate effective estate planning.
We often coordinate with our clients’ other advisors, including members of their family office teams, investment managers, insurance professionals, and accountants in order to craft the most optimal plans. Then, after an estate plan has been implemented, each member of this team can play a useful and unique role in the proper care and maintenance of the planning.
