Complex and changing laws have made estate planning and the administration of trusts and estates a difficult area - one in which a wrong decision can be costly for generations to come. Our Trusts and Estates Department has long enjoyed a reputation for providing personalized and sophisticated services and advice to clients in planning for the preservation and transfer of their wealth and the efficient management and settlement of their affairs upon incapacity or death. This includes planning to avoid probate and to minimize income, gift, estate, and generation-skipping transfer taxes. And often it includes planning to protect the value and continuity of a closely held business. As a result, we work closely with members of our Business Law Department in a wide variety of business transfers and restructurings.
The services we provide include:
• Estate planning for individuals, married and unmarried couples, and families
• Representing trustees, executors, and beneficiaries in the administration of trusts and estates and complex trust, estate, and tax litigation.
• Counseling our elderly clients in choices regarding asset conservation and medicaid planning, housing, public assistance, and terminal care
• Planning for beneficiaries with disabilities and other special needs.
• Acting as guardians ad litem to protect the interests of estate and trust beneficiaries
• Securing the appointment of guardians for minors and incompetent individuals and counseling guardians in administering the estates of those individuals.
• Asset protection planning.
• Guidance regarding education funding.
• Advice concerning charitable giving, including establishing and servicing charitable entities such as private foundations.
• Sophisticated life insurance planning.
The Trusts and Estates Department has long-standing positive relationships with a number of trust institutions. We have also represented hospitals, schools and other charitable institutions in connection with gifts and bequests. Department members regularly serve as lecturers at tax law institutes and seminars throughout the state, and several of our Department members serve on a committee formed by the probate court to draft new probate-related legislation.
Department Members have:
• Provided comprehensive estate plans for notable New Hampshire families and owners of closely held businesses. These plans have minimized estate taxes and provided for the deferred payment of estate tax and for the continued management and control of the family business through several generations.
• Assisted prominent New England families in planning the intergenerational transfer, management and control of substantial family properties.
• Designed sophisticated asset preservation plans for clients faced with a nursing home admission or disability.
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