Trusts & Estates

The accumulation of wealth without adequate planning results in the unnecessary dilution of a person’s estate. At Hall & Evans, we see three critical elements to an estate plan: building the estate, protecting the estate, and distributing the estate to your beneficiaries. We work with our clients in structuring their personal and business affairs so that their estates are protected during their lifetimes. In distributing the estate, we employ a variety of tools to facilitate the shifting of wealth to family members or other charitable or non‑charitable beneficiaries. Business succession planning is also an important aspect of our estate planning practice with closely‑held business owners. The techniques we utilize to implement our clients’ objectives include wills, trusts, lifetime gifts, charitable transfers, Medicaid planning, corporate and limited partnership structures, buy‑sell agreements, and deferred compensation agreements.

Our attorneys assist fiduciaries in their capacities as personal representatives and trustees of decedents’ estates and trusts, conservators of protected persons, and guardians of minors and incapacitated persons. Our services include handling all court proceedings as well as the preparation of the necessary federal and state income tax returns and Federal estate and gift tax returns.

We are frequently involved in estate or trust litigation. When our clients have valid will disputes, we assist them in investigating the circumstances under which the will was prepared. If the dispute is against the personal representative of a decedent’s estate or the trustee of a lifetime or testamentary trust, we assist them in investigating the administration of the estate or trust.