Estate and Trust Services
Estate Planning
Estate planning is an important element of your overall financial plan. Everyone, no matter the size of their estate, should have a well designed estate plan that will accomplish their individual goals. If a person has assets or children, creating a revocable living trust is typically advisable. Maintaining assets in a revocable living trust can avoid probate. It can also protect children in the case of an untimely demise of the parents. With the proper planning the heirs will receive most of the estate rather than the IRS. Just having a will does not prevent taxes.
Estate Taxation
Many estates are small enough that an estate tax return is not required. But when it is required, things can become complicated. For many executors, their newly found appointment as a fiduciary is the first time they have ever worked with a CPA. While dealing with the emotional loss of a loved one, they now have many legal and tax obligations. From the moment the client walks through our door, we strive to instill confidence and assurance that we will be their partner through the administration of the estate and offer guidance to the family in order to make preparing the taxes as simple as possible.
Trust Taxation
Trusts are created for a variety of reasons, such as tax planning, control or asset protection. Trusts can come into existence during the individual’s life or as a consequence of death. Our firm prepares a variety of trust returns including charitable, simple, and complex trusts.
Trust Administration
Many trusts carry over from year to year. We provide trust accounting services for our clients to provide statements to beneficiaries. In some cases, we act as the trustee or co-trustee and handle all of the distributions for the trust.