Personal Service Backed by Sophisticated Technical Experts
The firm’s Estate Planning, Trusts & Wealth Transfer Group is well recognized throughout Northern California. The Group provides the highest level of personal service to families and individuals as they plan for their future. Our attorneys combine practical knowledge and technical expertise to create effective, tax-efficient estate plans. Because each client’s needs and aspirations are unique, we work as counselors in the true sense of that word.
Our clients include families with estates exceeding $1 million to members of the Forbes 400. Members of the team provide sophisticated expertise in navigating a broad range of private wealth situations—from trusts, closely held entities (whether corporations, limited liability companies or partnerships), deferred compensation and stock holdings, as well as private and public charitable entities. We are able to achieve very significant tax reduction or elimination to benefit clients, their families, or their philanthropic purposes.
Because of the nature of the estate planning practice, the group works closely with members of the firm’s other groups, particularly the Corporate & Business, Real Estate, and Taxation groups. Close coordination with our colleagues in other practice areas brings effective collaborative expertise for our clients.
The group also handles the administration of estates and trusts. The practical, detailed knowledge of how plans work improves the quality of the planning process—as well as administration of the trust. The group provides clients and their families with support in post mortem tax planning and manages all matters relating to estate tax compliance. Additionally, the team represents clients in audits of gift and estate tax returns and tax controversies before the Gift and Estate Tax Division of the Internal Revenue Service.
Areas of expertise include:
- Complex charitable split interest trusts
- Family business succession entities, including partnerships, LLCs and closely-held corporations
- Intergenerational dynastic trust planning for high net worth individuals
- Intricate split interest residence and grantor-retained annuity trusts
- Transfer tax advocacy before the IRS Estate & Gift Tax Division
- Family transactional work involving co-tenancies and entity discount planning
- Mixed property will and revocable trust planning for US citizens and resident aliens
- Irrevocable lifetime grantor trust planning
- Counseling nonprofit organizations in all aspects of sophisticated planned giving
