Trusts & Estates
Trusts & Estates Desk
Fifteen named sub-domains, from the instrument that gets drafted on day one to the tax return filed years after death. The corpus doesn't stop at "wills and trusts" — it tracks the fiduciary duties, the tax exposure, and the litigation that follows when something goes wrong.
Wills & Intestate Succession
Whether a will is valid, what a contest actually has to prove, and what the state distributes when there isn't one.
Trust Law & Fiduciary Duties
Trustee obligations — discretionary distributions, prudent investing, accounting to beneficiaries — under the Uniform Trust Code.
Probate & Estate Administration
The procedural spine from petition to discharge: letters, creditor notice, asset marshaling, and final distribution.
Guardianship & Incapacity
What a durable power of attorney can prevent, and what a court has to decide once it can't.
Elder Law & Special Needs Planning
Medicaid Asset Protection Trusts, supplemental needs trusts, and the look-back period that governs both.
Business Succession & Buy-Sell Planning
Keeping a closely-held business intact through death, disability, retirement, or a partner's exit.
Asset Protection & Creditor Law
Which structures actually survive a creditor attack, and which ones only look like they will.
Federal Transfer Taxation
Estate, gift, and generation-skipping tax exposure — exemption amounts, portability, and what triggers a filing.
State Death Taxation
State estate and inheritance taxes, which run on their own exemptions and rates whatever the federal answer is.
Fiduciary & Probate Litigation
Contested wills, breach-of-duty claims, and accounting disputes once an estate stops being uncontested.
Estate Planning Engagement & Drafting
From the family and asset facts to the instruments — revocable trusts, wills, and the specialized trusts a tax position calls for.
Fiduciary Income Taxation
How a trust or estate's income is taxed, and how much of that tax follows the distributions out to the beneficiaries.
Retirement & Beneficiary Planning
Who inherits a retirement account, and how fast it has to be paid out under the post-SECURE Act rules.
Trust Modification, Situs & Conflict of Laws
Changing, moving, or ending a trust after it is signed, and which state's law governs when it moves.
Professional Responsibility & Malpractice
Engagement scope, conflicts, and the drafting and execution failures that turn into malpractice claims.