| Estate Planning and Probate Administration |
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We provide estate planning services for business owners, executives, investors and their families. Estate planning objectives include:
Good estate planning is highly personal. Plans need to be devised to meet particular needs. Those needs will vary with marital status, relationships with children and grandchildren, special needs of family members, estate size and the types of assets comprising the estate.
Failing to plan can have unanticipated and undesired results. Assets may end up in the hands of persons not intended to receive them or be reduced unnecessarily by taxes - the use of basic estate planning techniques can substantially reduce or eliminate estate taxes. For example, with proper planning, a married couple with a $3,000,000 combined estate, including life insurance, can eliminate $450,000 in federal estate taxes.
If you are a business owner, you have a particularly complex problem. You must make choices with regard to selling or liquidating the business or choosing and training successor management. In this decision making, you must deal with the varying needs, abilities and expectations of family members as well as planning to minimize taxes, expenses and avoid family friction. We at Carlile Patchen & Murphy can help you devise a plan to meet your wishes while minimizing taxes and administrative expenses and the risk of family conflicts.
"Avoiding probate" is a reoccurring question. In some situations that can be done effectively, while in others the goal is to minimize the impact of the process. The probate court oversees the administration of a decedent's estate, insures all debts and taxes are paid and that remaining assets are distributed to named beneficiaries. We assist our clients in implementing an estate plan that simplifies and minimizes the probate process. We then strive to guide the survivors through probate with understanding and compassion.