Counseling Families
Our Private Wealth lawyers understand that long-term relationships with families are built on trust and require a lawyer’s personal dedication, commitment, and sound judgment. The diversity and geographic distribution of BakerHostetler’s Private Wealth lawyers allows us to connect with families where they reside and do business.
Family Legacy Planning
A family’s legacy is built on tailored planning designed to serve multiple generations. We provide advice on planning with trusts and other entities to achieve tax efficient protection asset and management. Legacy planning often starts with gifting of assets and can involve a wide array of techniques and structures. Our lawyers are experienced in all types of gifting vehicles, which often combine trusts with partnerships, limited liability companies, and corporations. We coordinate a client’s lifetime gifting strategies with their estate planning documents to achieve continuity of management and tax savings over several generations.
Tax Experience
Each of our Private Wealth lawyers is a trained tax attorney. We rely on our keen tax understanding in structuring a family’s estate plan to maximize economic benefits for future generations. When it is necessary to deal directly with the Internal Revenue Service or state taxing authorities, our lawyers are experienced in taking the lead role in audits, appeals, and court proceedings. We look for opportunities to work with a client’s accountants and other advisers because we believe the best results are obtained through collaborative efforts.
Philanthropy
In many cases, family legacy planning involves the use of family-controlled charities. We understand the critical importance of philanthropy as a family objective and can arrange gifts that are most tax advantageous. We counsel families on how to use charitable entities to further their values and charitable interests.