Estate Planning and Probate
Let us help plan for your future. GSRM Law’s Estate Planning and Probate team advises on ensuring your family’s well-being and the transfer of wealth to the next generations through legal vehicles that offer optimal control and clarity. We advise on all aspects of estate, wealth, and family planning, including wealth transfer strategies, probate and trust law and administration, conservatorships and guardianships, disability preparedness, and estate and fiduciary litigation.
Our counsel is as unique as the clients we serve. We cater to established, high-net-worth individuals and families with new and/or multi-generational wealth. We work with business owners to ensure smooth intergenerational transitions through effective succession planning. We also guide younger families, usually with children, seeking to ensure their affairs are in order in the event of an unanticipated incident and/or tragedy.
How you handle your affairs in life impacts your legacy in death. Our attorneys design estate, family, and wealth transfer plans that are reflective of your individual objectives. We focus on minimizing estate taxes and safeguarding the vital assets you worked hard to acquire. We help you identify your goals for your family, and in particular, your minor and/or adult children and other beneficiaries, as well as clarify and incorporate any philanthropic and/or charitable preferences you may have. We guide you through defining how your investments and the business you created will continue after you are gone, and how business succession planning can work in tandem with your family, personal estate, and wealth transfer arrangements.
We offer peace of mind knowing your family’s future is secure. We work with younger clients, including entrepreneurs, executives, and other professionals, seeking to ensure the well-being of their families in the face of an unfortunate or unanticipated occurrence. We advise on the legalities associated with safeguarding assets, including 401Ks and other investments. We draft basic wills, establish durable powers of attorney, and healthcare directives, and provide advice on critical guardianship arrangements that reflect your specific objectives for the care of your children, elder parents, and the like if you are unable to do so.
We advise on the full array of trusts to support the management and protection of your assets. A well-planned trust enables you to maintain control over the distribution of your wealth to your assigned beneficiaries and usually results in far greater tax efficiencies and savings than will-based inheritance initiatives. Trusts also allow your beneficiaries to avoid probate, protect your estate from creditors and imprudent recipients, reduce court expenses and processing time, and guarantee the secrecy/privacy of your assets, including digital and cryptocurrency.
Our lawyers know how to incorporate your desire to care for beneficiaries and other individuals who cannot manage their own affairs. In situations where an adult or child is incapacitated, elderly loved ones need protection from undue influence, your property is left to a minor or an incapable adult, and/or a child has lost both parents, we establish conservatorships and guardianships – often required by law as a special protection. In the event a conservator or guardian is required, we advise you to allocate only the authority required to assist the disabled individual. In the event of conservator or guardian wrongdoing, we will seek justice in court.
Regardless of how challenging or difficult your circumstances are, we align your estate plan with your specific priorities and core principles. We take pride in identifying and accurately reflecting your desire to care for and/or recognize various family members. For example, one of your children may play a critical role in the family business while another needs specialized care due to a disability. Moreover, another of your children from a prior marriage may have made sacrifices to help you in your old age. We take the time to understand your specific family dynamics and preferences across the allocation of your assets.
We provide meticulous probate and trust law and administration advice. We are cognizant of the many decisions that impact your personal affairs, relationships with creditors, and the evaluation, valuation, and allocation of your assets. Our longevity of practice and deep bench of experience in probate and trust law and administration will aid you in prioritizing your family’s unity and provide solace following your passing. We regularly advise on ancillary probate administration, intestate estates, and probate administration of wills. We work closely with estate fiduciaries to determine estate assets and value, resolve conflicts, and facilitate the rightful transfer of ownership in accordance with your plan while meeting the court’s requirements.
Our litigators are fearless advocates inside and outside of court when resolving estate-related disputes. On attack or defense, we litigate all types of trust and estate claims, conservatorships and guardianships on behalf of executors, trustees, beneficiaries, fiduciaries, and respondents. We have effectively settled complex and high-stakes litigation involving the interpretation of wills and trusts, challenges to mental capacity, and undue influence, to name only a few examples. Our goal is always to achieve each client’s desired end game in a highly tactical, cost-effective, and prudent manner, while also taking into consideration the complexities and sensitivities involved in family conflict.