Probate

Representative Client Matter: A retired widower with approximately $30 million in real estate assets sought a simple estate plan to pass assets to his children. A comprehensive plan was developed with the first phase consisting of creating core estate planning documents on which future planning could be developed. Next, various real estate holdings were restructured from general partnership format into LLCs, and governing documentation (shareholder, partnership and operating agreements) were negotiated and implemented for properties owned with others. A comprehensive estate and gift tax plan was developed including a gift strategy using grantor retained annuity trusts (GRATs) and other techniques to leverage gifts to the next generation. A combination of outright sales, charitable remainder trusts and other techniques were used to increase liquidity and diversify the family asset base. Insurance planning and investment planning for the proceeds were all coordinated with the above plan.