Estate Planning & Trusts and Estate Administration

At Sullivan McGregor Doerr LLP we employ a very individualized approach to estate planning: It’s all about the client.

We strive to create estate plans with the appropriate balance between family dynamics, asset diversity and tax efficiency. We counsel individuals and families in planning estates of varying degrees of complexity, size and duration. Our clients range from individuals and families with sophisticated tax issues and beneficiary structures to those with more basic family and property concerns. Regardless of where our clients fit in this spectrum, our clients all receive the same level of professionalism, respect and attention. In this process, we assess both the personal, family and financial goals of our clients; analyze the impact of the various tax laws on those goals; and then create an estate plan, including the trusts, wills, powers of attorney, health care directives, and other documents which are necessary to best accomplish the clients’ objectives.

Additionally, we counsel families, personal representatives and trustees in the administration of estates and trusts. We assist our clients in every step of the administration process from the initial required steps through distribution to beneficiaries, including the preparation of estate and gift tax returns and providing assistance to the family’s Certified Public Accountant in connection with the preparation of fiduciary income tax returns. In the administration of trusts and estates, our goal is to make our clients’ burden as light as possible. We understand the difficulties of being a personal representative or trustee and will use our extensive experience to counsel our clients through such difficult times.

We also regularly provide litigation support involving trusts and estate matters, including consulting with trial counsel on trusts and estate issues and appearing as an expert witness in depositions and in court.