Estate Plans, Probate, and Trust

RMP provides clients with a wide range of comprehensive estate plans, probate, and trust services and counseling. Our attorneys employ a number of distinct estate planning techniques, many of which are directed at facilitating the transfer of wealth with reduced federal gift, estate, generation skipping transfer and income taxes. We provide clients with multi-generational planning designed to save taxes during life, at death, and for succeeding generations.

Our initial approach to the wealth preservation process involves:

• preparing an analysis of a client’s financial and family planning goals;
• assisting clients in the preparation of basic estate planning documents such as wills, trusts, and financial and healthcare-related documents tailored to meet the client’s specific needs;
• creatively planning to achieve the client’s goals in a manner that not only comports with the operation of client businesses or existing financial strategies, but also employs sophisticated strategies designed to avoid, defer and save federal and state gift, estate, generation skipping transfer and income taxes;
• tailoring the foundation of the client’s estate plan to deal with family dynamics; and
• working with the family leaders to implement the family’s mission and goals.

Our attorneys implement techniques designed to transfer wealth to succeeding generations during the client’s lifetime in order to save or provide liquidity to pay estate and generation skipping transfer taxes. Some of the strategies employed include:

• forming business entities to better manage estate and trust assets;
• implementing various strategies that utilize insurance to transfer value or provide liquidity to estates with estate tax burdens;
• creating gifting programs and preparing gift tax returns;
• working with clients to incorporate retirement plans and other savings strategies with the overall estate plan to achieve maximum flexibility and tax deferral; and
• advising business owners regarding business succession matters.

• administering probate estates;
• preparing estate tax returns;
• representing estates and trusts before the Internal Revenue Service;
• preparing trust tax returns;
• assisting clients with appraisals of real estate and business interests (including working with the client and valuation advisors in performing due diligence for the appraisals);
• funding trusts and advising clients on various post-mortem trust administration issues;
• assisting in the selection of financial advisors and fiduciaries; and
• advising beneficiaries of trusts as well as fiduciaries in the management of trusts in order to protect trust assets from claims of creditors and better attain tax avoidance or deferral.