Wealth & Succession Planners
Our Wealth and Succession Planning practice determines the most advantageous ways to hold assets during a client’s lifetime and implements the client’s plan for the distribution of assets at death. From commonplace wills to sophisticated estate plans for extremely high net worth individuals, we strive to address the unique issues surrounding family- and closely-held businesses, providing security well into future generations.
Investment analysis
Every investment in a property or business is a vote of confidence in its future performance. Our practice aims to help individuals make those votes in an informed manner. Accurately assessing investment health and performance can mean the difference between making a lucrative investment decision, or taking a significant financial hit.
Our experience makes us uniquely suited to counsel investors in these matters. We ourselves own and operate income-producing properties and businesses, and can discuss all the ins and outs of corporate financial statements and tax returns. Our experience in handling bankruptcy and title matters gives us an additional edge in determining the financial condition of properties and investments. Our counsel leads to fully informed, fully secure investors.
Tax Planning through 1031 Exchange
Trading-in one investment property for another is often a smart wealth management decision, but there can be significant tax implications from the sale of your investment property. Our in-house qualified intermediary, Birmingham Exchange Company, facilitates 1031 like-kind exchanges, allowing investors who qualify to fully defer their capital gains taxes.
This is not just another service we provide–it’s a passion of ours to educate property owners and real estate professionals alike on this incredible IRS incentive program. Moreover, we take our same creative problem-solving mentality and apply it to the structuring of your 1031 like-kind exchange, including reverse, improvement, and combination exchanges. A 1031 exchange means that you keep more of your capital invested in your property, rather than paying it out in taxes, and the benefit compounds over time.
Succession Planning and Estate Structuring
As a family of businessowners and property investors, our attorneys are very familiar with succession and estate planning for closely-held businesses, and the way that personal, family, and business issues interrelate, especially when the subject of succession arises. Our attorneys address the unique issues of ownership transition, management, and eventual distribution of business and investment assets after the client’s death.
Our approach is focused on identifying the business owner’s objectives, developing a comprehensive business plan during their lifetime and following their death. We ensure that each specific goal is addressed in a manner that satisfies the client, always with a focus on giving the client the peace of mind that comes from advance planning and preparation for life’s inevitabilities.
Our firm is well-versed in the structures available for estate and succession planning, and is capable of drafting sophisticated estate structures, including powers of attorney, corporate bylaws and resolutions, “lady bird” deeds, wills and trusts, to suit the needs of each individual client. Our attorneys have an extensive range of cross-disciplinary experience in real estate, business, litigation, and other topics relevant to estate planning and wealth management, and use this experience to provide exceptional service to our clients. Finally, our small-firm, boutique nature allows us to service your needs more personally and give you the best service possible.