Planning and implementing transfers of wealth during lifetime and at death has become one of the most innovative and creative areas of law. These wealth transfers involve not only traditional gift, estate, and income tax issues, but have come to include inter-generational business succession planning, protection of assets against losses due to beneficiary imprudence or creditor claims, and philanthropic considerations.

Various techniques may be utilized in facilitating a client's wealth transfer goals. These techniques may simply call for the use of traditional wills and trusts. They may also call for far more sophisticated techniques involving the use of family limited liability companies to hold assets, gifts with retained ownership interests, generation skipping transfers, charitable remainder or lead trusts and charitable annuities, and structuring the ownership of life insurance. Many of the techniques take advantage of valuation discounts due to the character of the property interests being transferred. All of these techniques consider ways to minimize the burden of transfer taxes (gift, estate and generation-skipping taxes) on the transfer of the client's wealth.

Ben Porter has the expertise and sophistication, developed from his more than thirty years experience in the field, and an advanced Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree in taxation, to prepare the various documents necessary to achieve the client's desired goal.

Estate and Trust Administration

As a part of the transfer of wealth through the administration of estates and trusts, Ben advises the personal representatives of the estates and trustees of the trusts. This may involve disclaimers of inheritances and other postmortem planning to reduce income and estate taxes. It also includes advice regarding the selection and transfer of particular assets in achieving transfers to beneficiaries including by-pass, marital deduction, and generation skipping trusts.



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