TRUSTS & ESTATES
Our trusts and estates team can help you to minimize estate and gift taxes, prepare wills and trusts, plan with life insurance, make large gifts and other tax-efficient transfers, and administer estates.  We’re concerned with all aspects of helping you to preserve wealth and to pass it on to future generations and other beneficiaries you designate in a highly tax efficient, yet flexible, manner.

We’re equipped to handle the diverse needs of our clients, and have lawyers who are among the top national experts in this field. We can provide a wide range of solutions, from a simple will to a highly sophisticated estate plan involving various forms of leveraged transfer strategies during one’s lifetime.  In addition, if a dispute is presented in the context of an estate or a trust, we have attorneys with extensive experience in representing both fiduciaries and beneficiaries in litigation.

Be Prepared for Upcoming and Uncertain Estate Taxes
If you are an individual with assets (including pension plans and insurance) exceeding $1 million, you will generally need legal assistance with your plan. That’s because even though there is currently a $5 million Federal exemption in effect under the new estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer tax laws that were enacted in December 2010, the estate tax exemption is only $1 million for New York State estate tax purposes (and only $675,000 in New Jersey).  In addition, the Federal estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer tax laws that were enacted by Congress in December 2010 will expire after December 31, 2012.  This means that, barring subsequent Congressional action, clients could be facing a $1 million Federal estate tax exemption come January 1, 2013. 

We help clients to develop comprehensive estate plans that are highly customized to their unique facts and circumstances that take into account the future uncertainties in the estate tax law by building in maximum flexibility into our wills and trust instruments. In addition, through the use of trusts and other planning techniques, including family limited partnerships, we help clients to achieve their asset protection objectives to preserve their wealth for their families.

Charitable Giving Made Easier
Because estate planning often involves charitable giving, our attorneys view charities as not just a means for generating deductions, but also as a vehicle for active involvement on the part of the giver if that is desired. This can take many forms. In addition to outright charitable gifts, the techniques of charitable giving can include charitable remainder trusts, charitable lead trusts, donor advised funds and private foundations. Our estate planning lawyers can help guide you to select the charitable giving technique that is best suited to your individual circumstances. We can then advise you on the implementation of the technique that you have selected to achieve your charitable giving objectives in a tax-wise manner.

Protect Your Rights, Whatever Happens
Our clients who are addressing their estate planning needs will also generally wish to execute living wills, durable powers of attorney, and health care proxies at the same time. We will prepare these instruments as part of your estate plan at minimal additional cost.