Danziger & Markhoff LLP attorneys work closely with the client's accountant, investment counselor, insurance agents and other advisors to assure that the client's estate planning needs are addressed in the broad context of overall business and personal financial planning. The estate planning services provided by the firm include preparation of trusts and wills, structuring gift programs, planning for the disposition of insurance proceeds and retirement plan benefits, coordinating arrangements for the disposition of family business interests including succession planning, structuring tax-sensitive vehicles for charitable giving, and representing beneficiaries in disputes regarding the management and distribution of estates.
We have pioneered the use of various techniques to achieve clients' individual objectives, for example:
- Designing estate plans for clients with non-citizen spouses in order to avoid the limitations on transfers to alien spouses
- Providing equitably and practically for the distribution of estates when the primary asset is a family-owned business in which only some heirs are active
- Protecting assets from creditors (such as sons-in-law and daughters-in-law and malpractice creditors) through the use of family limited partnerships, limited liability companies and generation-skipping trusts
- Assuring that children from first marriages inherit as the parent intends following his/her subsequent remarriage
- Structuring retirement plan and IRA distributions to enable succeeding generations to continue to take advantage of tax-deferred growth of the parents' pension assets
- Creating trusts for disabled individuals who receive Supplemental Security Income in order to protect these benefits from reimbursement
Our attorneys have written numerous articles dealing with estate planning and we frequently address legal and professional associations on emerging topics in estate planning.
