Estate Planning

Our Trusts & Estates attorneys consult with our clients to determine the nature and extent of their assets and their objectives in managing, conserving and disposing of them. We assist our clients in refining, developing and implementing a broad range of estate planning techniques, so that their assets will be transferred in the manner they specify, avoiding unnecessary taxes, claims, complexities and court proceedings. Our depth of experience enables us effectively to combine proficiency with practicality and sensitivity to both technical and non-technical issues. We strive to create an estate plan for each client that not only disposes of the client's assets as the client wishes, but also addresses any special as well as anticipated and, to the extent possible, unanticipated future issues.

To ensure that our clients obtain the full benefit of our expertise and professional relationships, when appropriate we work with attorneys in our Taxation, Corporate and Securities, and Bankruptcy groups, among others, as well as with our clients' other professional advisors, including accountants, investment bankers, brokers, financial planners, life insurance professionals, valuation consultants and representatives of banks and trust companies.

We take particular pride in our meticulous and creative drafting of estate planning instruments, ranging from the short and simple to the highly complex. These documents include wills, trust instruments of all kinds (both revocable and irrevocable), such as "living," life insurance, grantor defective, "QTIP," "QDOT," "QPRT," and special needs trusts, as well as durable powers of attorney (for the management of business and financial affairs), pre-marital and post-marital agreements, "living wills", shareholders' agreements, family limited partnerships and limited liability company agreements.

In addition, we prepare or review appropriate ancillary estate planning documents, such as beneficiary designation forms for retirement plans, ownership and beneficiary designation forms for life insurance policies, deeds, instruments of disclaimer and similar documents.