Estate plans evolve and should be reviewed and updated periodically as wealth accrues, as tax laws change and as life events occur, like the birth of a child, a change in marital status, retirement or the death of a spouse.

Harris Beach Murtha’s trusts and estates attorneys examine your unique circumstances and work with you to find a solution tailored to your situation. There really is no “one size fits all” when it comes to estate planning. We advise clients at all levels of wealth and sophistication who may need simple or more complicated planning; from new parents seeking to nominate guardians to business owners needing highly sophisticated estate planning, from tax mitigation to asset protection to business succession. We offer alternative ways and flexible plans to accomplish your goals.

We craft customized estate plans involving insurance; income, gift, estate and generation-skipping transfer tax strategies through a variety of trust structures and other techniques to help our clients meet their goals.

Our attorneys combine extensive technical legal experience with an understanding of the emotional and practical issues that arise after the death of a family member to help ease the executor’s or trustee’s responsibilities when marshaling, liquidating, administering and transferring estate and trust assets.

We advise fiduciaries and draft petitions, fiduciary accountings, fiduciary income tax returns, estate and generation-skipping transfer tax returns, inventories and other documents required in formal administrations in probate court and outside of probate. We advise with respect to post-mortem tax planning options, including certain tax elections, disclaimers, and other available techniques.

Our attorneys have successfully represented estates in tax controversies before the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and state tax authorities in New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut. We also have significant experience litigating questions involving the validity and interpretation of wills and trust agreements and disputes centered on breach of fiduciary duty. Moreover, we ensure estate and trust assets are properly accounted for, valuations undertaken, tax filing requirements are met, and distributions of estate and trust assets are made in a correct and timely fashion.

Trusts and estate proceedings can be complex, emotional affairs. Going through a probate and administrative process – especially while mourning the loss of a loved one – can be overwhelming. When pursuing estates and trust matters, it is crucial to have experienced, comprehensive legal guidance to protect your interests. Our attorneys have been recognized in legal publications as among the best lawyers in the industry and provide comprehensive counsel during sensitive and volatile matters.

Our trusts and estates attorneys represent corporate, institutional and individual clients in contested probate, guardianship, accounting, discovery and other proceedings. These seasoned trial attorneys are also experienced in Alternative Dispute Resolution techniques.

Our extensive experience includes litigating a wide range of estate matters, including constructing and reforming wills and trusts; contesting wills, trusts and Powers of Attorney documents; navigating guardianship proceedings; protecting beneficiary rights; adjudicating complex estate and trust accounting disputes; allegations of wrongdoing against executors and trustees; and removing fiduciaries.

When conflict leads to litigation, we devise and execute strategies to help protect valuable family assets. With extensive knowledge of laws in New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut and around the nation, our attorneys are prepared to help you avoid, defend, pursue and/or resolve all types of trust, estate and fiduciary disputes.

Harris Beach Murtha attorneys work proactively with you to develop strategies that protect personal and business assets from lawsuits, creditor claims, bankruptcy, divorce and long-term care expenses.

High-net-worth families and business owners need a comprehensive asset protection plan in place or risk significant financial loss. We help individuals, families and business owners understand the risks they face, and design asset protection plans to guard against potential liabilities. Using strategies to establish a legal barrier between our clients and their assets to protect their net worth from creditors, impeding their ability to seize assets or collect judgments, while also potentially mitigating estate taxes. Such strategies include the formation of corporations, partnerships and limited liability companies, as well as the use of asset protection trusts.

From time to time, clients ask us to serve as executor or trustee because they have confidence in the attorney who works with them. We are willing to serve as trustee and assist in accumulating and managing assets during your lifetime, or as executor and trustee for the benefit of your family. We accept these responsibilities when it is a clear client preference, and we take the duties seriously with the intent to earnestly represent your interests.

Our Fiduciary Services Program includes institutional custodial services for securities, on-line computerized access to all account information, investment management assistance from carefully chosen professional investment advisers, and periodic reports with close, personal attention to client and beneficiary needs

We believe that when clients and their families remain informed and empowered, their wishes can be honored during their lifetime. With deep knowledge and experience, our attorneys are qualified and equipped to handle aging, disability and special needs issues.

We value and follow a holistic, strategy-driven approach to long-term care planning through comprehensive guidance and continued support. We prepare legal documents; assist with navigating government programs; help with Medicaid applications and strategies that enable clients to preserve family assets; establish living trusts; and plan for long-term care, including advising on the nursing home admissions process, home care needs and other issues.

We also tap into a network of professionals to assist with the non-legal aspects of care and planning, including geriatric care managers, placement professionals and financial advisors.

Families with incapacitated, elderly or developmentally disabled members increasingly encounter legal and practical issues surrounding long-term care and support. Our attorneys counsel clients on a wide spectrum of guardianship and conservatorship matters, and help establish guardianships that assist those who are unable to independently manage their financial and personal matters. Through proper planning, we allow individuals to predetermine medical and financial decisions, thus lessening the burden of difficult choices and anxiety for family members.

If you suddenly pass away or become incapacitated, who will take care of your special needs family member? Who will make his or her financial, health care and legal decisions?

Caring for an individual with special needs presents families with unique challenges requiring experienced legal advice and counsel. Our trusts and estates attorneys understand these challenges and are experienced in developing effective estate plans and establishing the necessary trusts and guardianships to assist a future advocate in making personal decisions that help maintain a high quality of life for individuals living with special needs.

We also provide guidance on the various benefit programs for individuals living with special needs and the requirements for Supplemental Security Income, Social Security Disability and Medicaid benefits. We help establish supplemental needs trusts to help augment government benefits and paying for goods, services and equipment not covered by Medicaid.

Additionally, we help clients have a better understanding of Special Education resources available to support special needs children.

Our attorneys continuously monitor tax law developments and utilize innovative planning strategies to help clients minimize their tax liability. We address a broad range of tax issues, including, but not limited to, pre- and post-business transaction tax planning, charitable gift planning, wealth transfer tax mitigation planning, ,and tax planning related to separation or divorce, change of employment, and change of domicile.

Closely held businesses present special planning challenges, including the necessity of designing and implementing a plan for succession of ownership with minimal tax impact and minimal business interruption. Our trusts and estates attorneys have counseled many businesses through business succession and exit strategies and often team with corporate and tax attorneys to provide comprehensive solutions that minimize tax and provide for the orderly transition of family businesses.

We have considerable experience addressing both business and personal objectives facing founding business owners, minority shareholders and succeeding generations.

Gifts to family members and nonprofit organizations are important elements in many estate plans. Our attorneys assist clients in fulfilling their charitable objectives by creating trusts with favorable income and wealth transfer tax benefits.

Our experience includes creating family charitable foundations to allow future generations to continue the family tradition of making charitable gifts; establishing split-interest charitable trusts and working with nonprofit organizations to develop and implement planned-giving programs.

U.S. citizens, non-U.S. citizens, and multinational families may have property in more than one country. With offices across New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut, as well as a collaborative relationship with one of Canada’s largest law firms, Harris Beach Murtha is well positioned to resolve U.S./Canada estate planning and succession issues.

Our attorneys combine sophisticated estate and tax planning with careful consideration of non-tax issues that promote family harmony and the successful management of worldwide assets. We prepare qualified domestic trusts for non-U.S. citizen spouses, engage in pre-immigration planning and asset protection for individuals preparing to move to the United States, and structure the ownership of worldwide assets using trusts, corporations and other entities.

Whether you own Canadian assets, live abroad or have non-U.S. citizen family members, our attorneys navigate the interplay between the U.S. and Canadian tax regimes.

Prenuptial agreements are contracts between two individuals planning marriage which express their decisions regarding debts, assets, property, finances and other matters. In the absence of a prenuptial agreement, spouses are subject to state laws regarding property ownership and support should they divorce, and to state probate laws should one spouse die. A properly drafted prenuptial agreement takes precedence over marital property, divorce and probate laws.

Postnuptial agreements are entered into by spouses after they are married and before a divorce. These agreements take into account similar decisions as prenuptial agreements. The parties agree upon a division of certain assets. Postnuptial agreements are effectuated either at the time of the agreement or at some future event, such as the dissolution of marriage or death of a spouse.

Harris Beach Murtha attorneys assist couples by drafting, reviewing and providing legal advice concerning prenuptial and postnuptial agreements with a goal of preventing costly litigation between spouses and providing future security.