ESTATE & GIFT TAX
We help individuals develop tax-efficient strategies for federal estate and gift tax purposes. Collaboration with other practice areas of the firm to design a comprehensive program to meet each client's specific objectives is always considered.
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ESTATE PLANNING, WILLS & TRUSTS
We help clients prioritize their goals and objectives for estate planning, including will and trust preparation and other sophisticated wealth transfer techniques. We also help clients review their assets to consider optimal ownership positions to minimize estate and gift taxes.
When issues arise that require specific expertise in areas such as real estate, insurance, or other practices, we are able to collaborate with other Gallagher & Kennedy experts to advance the wealth management objectives.
Several key areas of our estate planning practice include:
- Wealth preservation techniques, gifting programs, generation-skipping transfers, and charitable planned giving.
- Preparation and administration of all types of trusts, including revocable and irrevocable trusts, charitable trusts, children’s trusts, educational trust planning, special needs trusts, grantor retained annuity trusts, family limited partnerships, and trusts designed for multiple generations.
- Preparation of wills and powers of attorney for both health care and business purposes.
- Business succession planning to meet client objectives.
PROBATE & TRUST ADMINISTRATION & LITIGATION
Estate planning is ideally straightforward, but real-world complexities such as mental capacity decline, modern family dynamics, and pre-death legal tactics can foster disputes, as observed by Gallagher & Kennedy lawyers. Anticipated wealth distribution can even prompt premature actions like guardianship or conservatorship filings. Against this backdrop, we focus on a comprehensive strategy to manage trust and estate litigation, ensuring the effective realization of your wishes.
Our key areas of practice include:
- Administration of decedent estates and trusts
- Will and trust contests
- Trustee-Beneficiary disputes
- Breach of fiduciary duty claims
- Vulnerable adult abuse, financial exploitation
- Claims of undue influence, lack of testamentary capacity
- Planning and representation in guardianship and conservatorship proceedings
- Pre-litigation planning
Managing your trust often requires interaction with other wealth management professionals, including accountants, insurance professionals, and trust officers at financial institutions. Gallagher & Kennedy provides coordination in the management of trusts on behalf of our clients as well as legal representation of individual and corporate fiduciaries in the administration of trusts and estates.
FAMILY-OWNED BUSINESSES
As with all businesses, creating a plan for family-owned businesses is vitally important and best done at the outset of the business. Once business plans are in place, periodic reviews are recommended to accommodate changing circumstances within the business.
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As a full-service business law firm, our attorneys are uniquely positioned to help you accomplish your short- and long-term objectives throughout the full life cycle of your business, including:
- Business succession planning.
- Business reorganizations, recapitalizations, and shareholder agreements.
- Retirement planning, covering both qualified and non-qualified retirement plans.
- Business formation and dissolution.
PRENUPTIAL AGREEMENTS
Gallagher & Kennedy offers advice and counsel for the establishment of prenuptial agreements as well as postnuptial agreements. Our legal experts assist clients with the negotiations involved in reaching agreements and making certain that the protections desired are implemented.