How We Help With Trusts and Estates
Lietman, Siegal & Payne offers clients comprehensive assistance across the full spectrum of estate and family tax planning matters. Our attorneys develop and implement sophisticated estate plans for clients and their families with the goal of facilitating the wealth transfer process and minimizing the family’s overall tax burden. We work in tandem with our clients and their accountants, insurance agents and financial advisors to insure full coordination and successful implementation of their estate plans.
The Trusts and Estates practice group of Leitman, Siegal & Payne is one of the most experienced and respected estate, tax and financial planning groups in Alabama. Our practice includes a wide range of activities, including:
- Structuring and preparing wills and trusts, including charitable remainder and lead trusts, trusts designed to hold life insurance, grantor retained annuity trusts and intentionally defective grantor trusts
- Qualified personal residence trusts and generation-skipping trusts
- Advising fiduciaries and beneficiaries of estates and trusts and negotiating settlements of family disputes
- Negotiating and structuring corporate, real estate, partnership and other types of business transactions involving family ownership
- Preparing family limited partnerships, limited liability companies and S corporations intended to address various estate planning issues
- Counseling on valuation issues and advising on the retention of appraisers with respect to income, gift and estate matters
- Advising clients with respect to qualified plans, IRAs and other similar tax-deferred arrangements
- Negotiating with Internal Revenue Service personnel, including the obtaining of IRS rulings
- Serving as litigation counsel before various courts
- Creating and advising private foundations, advising clients with respect to their philanthropic objectives and numerous other similar activities
- Advising families in the formation and implementation of business succession plans intended to meet both tax and non-tax objectives
- Drafting pre-nuptial and post-nuptial agreements and assisting in all aspects of marital dissolutions
- Representing personal representatives of estates in the preparation of federal estate tax returns, responding to litigation by beneficiaries and handling tax controversies with federal and state tax authorities
Legal Specialization In Closely Held Businesses
Our attorneys also work with the owners of closely held businesses, not only in the implementation of the business, but also with business succession planning and if necessary the restructuring of the business. We help owners of closely held businesses to identify and address issues to ensure maximum, long-term benefits.
Working With Families In Tough Times
The Trusts and Estates practice group also addresses an equally broad spectrum of issues relating to advising the family and the implementation of the estate plan upon the death of a family member. We provide probate, trust and estate administration services and handle conservatorships and conservatorship administrations. Our services are personalized to the individuals who have lost family members. We prepare gift and estate tax returns and aggressively represent our clients before the Internal Revenue Service, Appeals Court, Tax Court and Federal District Court to reduce or eliminate gift, estate and generation-skipping transfer taxation.
Help Resolving Trust Disputes
Moreover, our attorneys represent both individual and corporate fiduciaries as well as beneficiaries and other interested parties in disputes relating to trust and estate administrations, conservatorships and tax matters involving trusts and estates. We have experience in will contests, trust modifications and terminations, fiduciary obligations and questions arising in trust, estate and conservatorship matters. We provide counsel to individuals, trustees, estate administrators and conservators to avoid litigation wherever possible. In doing so, we have significant experience in negotiating and drafting settlement agreements to resolve differences within families and businesses as well as between taxpayers and taxing authorities.
Trusts and Estates contact persons:
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