TRUSTS & ESTATES

Freeman counsels clients across a range of trust and estate matters—from planning to fiduciary litigation.   Our legal team includes dual CPAs and attorneys with advanced LL.M. degrees in taxation with, combining legal acumen with clinical trust, estate, and partnership accounting insight.

• We assist clients with the administration of trusts and estates, probate proceedings, asset protection, and tax-efficient estate planning.
• Best Lawyers® and U.S. News & World Report have recognized Freeman Law as a “Tier 1” Tax Law firm.   Our ranks include attorneys who have been named to U.S. News and World Report’s Best Lawyers in America list and recognized by Chambers & Partners as among the leading attorneys in the United States, among others.
• Our attorneys include former IRS trial attorneys, former clerks to the Chief Judge of the United States Tax Court, tax law professors, dual-credentialed CPAs, and attorneys with advanced LL.M. tax degrees from the most prestigious tax programs in the nation.  One third of our attorneys serve as tax law professors at tier-one law schools.

Trusts & Estates

Freeman’s attorneys represent trusts and estates, facilitating the accumulation, management, and transfer of wealth.  We regularly represent executors, trustees, and beneficiaries of complex estates and trusts.  From tax planning to fiduciary litigation, we have you covered.

Our private client practice provides comprehensive services, including estate planning, trust and estate administration, business succession planning, and tax litigation.  We are steeped in international gift and estate tax matters, providing international planning and cross-border representation.

Estate Planning

Estate planning is the pathway to a multigenerational legacy.  We provide across-the-board tax counsel, including federal and state, transfer, and estate tax planning.  Our attorneys frequently advise clients with family businesses and complex needs, including philanthropic endeavors.

We assist clients with the creation of estate and trust plans, including:

• Wills
• Trusts
• Trust Administration
• Estate Administration
• Successions in closely held businesses
• Charitable contributions
• Education funding

Our counsel goes far past wills and trusts, and includes the formation of family partnerships, limited liability companies, grantor retained interest trusts, qualified personal residence trusts, as well as more sophisticated tax planning structures such as the use of intentionally defective trusts, charitable trusts, life insurance trusts.  We assist clients with prenuptial agreements, disclaimers, qualified terminable interest trusts, qualified domestic trusts, offshore trusts, and other planning devices.

Trust & Estate Administration

We assist clients with probate and trust administration, administering assets and providing guidance to fiduciaries.  We assist clients with heirship proceedings, creditor claims, the preparation of inventories and accountings, and estate and gift tax returns, as well as the distribution and settlement of estates.

Trust & Estate Litigation

Our fiduciary litigation attorneys represent clients in complex breach-of-fiduciary-duty matters, including executors, administrators, trustees, beneficiaries, and heirs.   Our attorneys are versed in will contests, and trust and fiduciary litigation.  Our representations include:

• Will contests and probate litigation
• Trust litigation
• Fiduciary litigation
• Other inheritance disputes

Family Wealth Preservation

Transferring assets across generations often requires addressing taxation, regulation, and, at times, even litigation.  Our trusted counsel advise clients and their professionals, providing family wealth planning requires the aid of a trusted advisor well-versed in the complexities of family wealth preservation to ensure that the family wealth is safeguarded, maintained intact, and available for the benefit of future generations.

Business Succession Planning

As families build businesses and value, they must plan for a transition to a successor generation.    Closely held businesses and family businesses face unique succession challenges. Strategic succession planning can be essential to owner-managed and family-owned businesses.  We cater to their needs, working with founders, later generations, and other close groups to develop succession strategies that accomplish stakeholder goals.  Long-term planning includes considerations such as the choice of entity structure, financing and valuation methods, estate and gift tax planning, and long-term governance plans.

Charitable Planning

Charitable planning is a common element of the estate planning process.  We help clients achieve their philanthropic goals in a tax-efficient manner, identifying their objectives and creating a plan for charitable giving that aligns with their goals, including through:

• Charitable Remainder Trusts and Charitable Lead Trusts
• Family foundations and donor-advised funds
• Comprehensive estate and trust structures

When the Stakes Are High, Clients turn to Freeman Law

Freeman offers experienced, knowledgeable counsel in the context of trusts & estates—from estate planning to fiduciary litigation. We aim to empower and educate clients so they achieve their philanthropic and distribution goals, while minimizing estate and gift taxation—helping our clients leave a lasting legacy.