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.
News Items
- Hellmuth & Johnson Welcomes Attorney Jennifer Rutz to the Firm
- Hellmuth & Johnson Attorneys Named to 2020 Minnesota Super Lawyers and Rising Stars List
- Cole Hickman Selected as Up & Coming Attorney by Minnesota Lawyer
- Rachel M. Dahl Selected as Up & Coming Attorney by Minnesota Lawyer
- Hellmuth & Johnson Names Rachel M. Dahl as Partner
- In Memoriam: Scott M. Nelson
- Three Hellmuth & Johnson Attorneys to Present at MHA’s Working Together Conference
- Rachel Dahl presents on panel at Practical Farmers of Iowa Annual Conference
- Cole Hickman joins Hellmuth & Johnson’s Estate Planning and Business groups
- Rachel Dahl speaks at “Map of My Kingdom” farm transition planning event
- Rachel Dahl to present during webinar on “Farm Transfer Planning for the Next Generation”
- Hellmuth & Johnson attorneys named to the 2017 Minnesota Super Lawyers and Rising Stars lists
- Rachel Dahl featured in Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal piece on Women in Law
- Rachel Dahl talks conservation and trust & estate planning with “The Practical Blog”
- Rachel Dahl to present on Business Succession Planning at Roundtable
- Scott Nelson and Rachel Dahl to speak on Charitable Planning
- Hellmuth & Johnson Attorneys Selected to the 2016 Minnesota Super Lawyers List
- Rachel Dahl presenting at Probate and Trust Conference
- Earl Cohen Talks Wills and Prince on KARE 11
- Jennifer Elston-Brondell to present in NBI Estate Planning Webinar
- Jennifer Elston-Brondell to speak at Pulmonary Fibrosis Support Group
- Hellmuth & Johnson Partners Selected to the 2014 Super Lawyers List
- Hellmuth & Johnson adds new partner Scott M. Nelson
- Purchase Estate Tax Return course material taught by Susan L. Anderson
- Hellmuth & Johnson Names Polomis, Keena, and Davis as Partners
Thought Leadership
- Snowbird Law: Surprised With A Lawsuit While Out Of State
- Snowbird Law: Relocating from Minnesota to Florida
- What is a Cohabitation Agreement? Do I need one?
- Wealth Transfer Strategies to Consider in an Election Year
- Grantor Retained Annuity Trust
- Important Update of the “CARES Act” and RMDs
- WEBINAR REPLAY: Estate Planning
- Can a Non-U.S. Citizen Create an Estate Plan in the U.S.?
- COVID-19 and the SECURE Act
- COVID-19 Highlights the Importance of Estate Planning
- What’s a Transfer on Death Deed and Do I Need One?
- Cabin Fever? Keep It in the Family!
- Charitable Giving Under the Tax Cut & Jobs Act – 2018
- Effective Transitions of Privately Held Businesses
- Help Clients Pick the Right Successor Trustee
- Special Needs Trusts & ABLE Accounts
- Transfers of Family Entity Interests
- Using an IRA for Self-Directed Investments in Your Own Business or Real Estate
- The New Minnesota Trust Code: What Planners Need to Know
- Minnesota’s New Trust Code Provides Planning Opportunities
- Minnesota trust code – Part Four: Directed Trusts
- Minnesota trust code: Decanting – Part Three
- Minnesota’s new trust code provides planning opportunities
- Have you provided for your digital assets in your estate plan?
- Minnesota trust code: Unchanged provisions – Part Two
- New trust code adopted by Minnesota – Part One
- Choosing a Fiduciary – One of the Most Important Decisions of Your Estate Plan
- August is National Make a Will Month
- The Importance of an Estate Plan for Young People, Especially those with Children
- Things to consider before making a charitable donation
- Proposed IRS regulations for ABLE accounts
- The Family Cabin – Will it Be There for the Next Generation?
- Protecting your assets without flying to Grand Cayman
- Financial Exploitation and Abuse of the Elderly
- Overview of 2014 Tax Increase Prevention Act
- The Changes Coming for LLCs
- Protecting your retirement plan for your beneficiaries
- Probate – What is it? Why do we need it? How do we avoid it?
- It’s time to start your year end planning
- Supreme Court will decide whether bankruptcy protection applies to inherited IRAs
- Better to give now (2010) vs. Making charitable contributions later (2011)
Past Seminars
- Legal & Business Issues Affecting Contractors 2020
- 2019 Community Association Fall Seminar
- CLE: Millennials and Gen Xers Are in Your Jury – Are You Ready?
- 2019 Community Association Spring Seminar
- 2019 Community Association Spring Seminar
- Legal and Business Issues Affecting Contractors 2019
- Community Association Seminar Fall 2018
- Divorce Litigation from Start to Finish
- New Overtime Rules Seminar 2016
- Second Saturday Divorce Seminar
- Community Association Seminar Fall 2016
- Revocable Living Trusts from Start to Finish
- Entertainment Law
- Revocable Trusts from A to Z
- Business Decisions You Can Bank On
- Cyberliability Insurance Session
- Intellectual Property – Armor for Entrepreneurs
- Small Business Series: Wage and Hour Issues
- Mastering Fiduciary Accounting Income
- Small Business Series: Succession Planning
- Drafting IRA Trusts
- Proactive vs. Reactive: Charitable Giving Seminar
- 2017 Women’s Entrepreneurship Conference
- Small Business Series: Intellectual Property
- Community Association Seminar Spring 2017
- Trusts From A to Z
- 2017 Probate & Trust Law Conference
- What Can You Do With Property Nobody Wants?
- How Not to Get Sued
- Estate Planning: The Ultimate Guide
- How To Get It Done: A Homeowners Guide
- Accommodation Requests Under the Fair Housing Act
- Small Business Series: Business Banking
- Legal and Business Issues Affecting Contractors 2017
- Commercial RE Seminar: Environmental Due Diligence
- ABA Property Insurance Law Spring CLE Conference
- Community Association Seminar Spring 2018
- Preventative Maintenance & Const. Defect Claims
- Single Member LLCs
- Revocable Living Trusts 101
- Trust Taxation: The Ultimate Guide
- Legal and Business Issues Affecting Contractors 2018
- Intellectual Property: Start to Finish
- 2017 Greater Mankato MHA Conference and Trade Show
- Community Association Seminar Fall 2017
- Drafting IRA Trusts
- Small Business Series: Non-Competes & More
- Rochester Community Association Seminar 2017
- What’s Your End Game? Succession Planning
- Handling the Sale of a Business
- “Guilty Until Proven Innocent” Flooring Seminar