Estate Planning

Estate Planning

Unique needs demand extraordinary dedication. One size never fits all when it comes to wills, trusts and business succession plans. For that reason, we tailor our legal services for each individual to ensure the effective control, maintenance and disposition of their assets during life and after death.

On issues ranging from tax planning and asset preservation to business exit strategies, our estate planning attorneys in Minneapolis develop customized plans that meet each client’s unique goals in order to guide through the implementation of plans.

A will may meet the needs of many individuals, but for clients whose needs are best met through trusts, our lawyers have extensive experience in crafting a variety of solutions, including:

• Revocable living trusts: Often used to avoid probate and plan for future mental incompetency and disability while an individual is alive.
• Testamentary trusts: Created to provide for minor children.
• Qualified personal residence trusts: Used to transfer a grantor’s residence out of the grantor’s estate in a tax-advantageous manner.
• Supplemental needs trusts: Preferred vehicle to meet the needs of disabled children.
• Irrevocable life insurance trusts: Enable life insurance policy holders to avoid estate taxes on policy benefits.
• Charitable remainder trusts: Designed to provide income – and, in many cases, tax savings – to the trustor and spouse, with the assets remaining after death passing to designated charities.
• Charitable lead trusts: May reduce beneficiaries’ taxes by having the trust contribute to charity for a specified period of time, with the trust assets returning to the trustor or heirs.
• Grantor retained annuity trusts (GRATs): After providing a donor with an annuity for a fixed time, assets pass to the beneficiaries (who must be family members).

Our Minneapolis estate planning attorneys handle estates of all sizes, representing individuals as well as business owners.