Trusts and Estates New York Lawyers: Warshaw Burstein Cohen Schlesinger & Kuh, LLP Attorneys serving New York

Trusts and Estates

The attorneys in our trusts and estates group are seasoned practitioners in the areas of estate planning, estate and trust administration and contested estate and trust matters.

In planning your estate, we assist you in anticipating the financial needs of your family and arrange for the transfer of assets to your beneficiaries with the minimum exposure to estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer taxes. Whenever appropriate, we enlist the aid of our clients' accountants and financial advisors and endeavor to foster a close working relationship with them. The attorneys in our trusts and estates group are proficient in the preparation of wills, insurance trusts and other trust agreements, stockholders' agreements, and all other documents necessary to implement your overall estate plan, as well as living wills, health care proxies and powers of attorney. When appropriate, we suggest advanced planning techniques, including grantor retained annuity trusts, qualified personal residence trusts and family limited partnerships. For clients who wish to make charitable gifts and bequests, we assist them to do so in the most tax efficient manner. When appropriate, we suggest such techniques as forming a private charitable foundation, a charitable remainder trust or a charitable lead trust.

Our firm's focus in estate and trust administration is to acquaint executors and trustees with their tax, accounting and other obligations and to assist them in carrying out their duties. Our trusts and estates attorneys have substantial expertise in the probate process, post-mortem tax planning techniques and the preparation of estate tax returns, fiduciary income tax returns and accountings. In addition, they have extensive experience in representing clients before the Internal Revenue Service and other taxing authorities. The attorneys in our trusts and estates group are supported by a highly skilled staff of paralegals and in-house fiduciary accountants, thus enabling us to administer estates and trusts in an efficient and cost-effective manner.

In conjunction with our litigation group, our trusts and estates attorneys represent fiduciaries, beneficiaries and objectants in will contests, disputed accountings and other estate and trust litigation. Their participation in contested matters often takes them before the judges of the Surrogate's Court, the United States Tax Court and other state and federal tribunals. The attorneys in our trusts and estates group are valued by our clients not simply for being fine legal technicians, but also for the sensitivity they display in addressing the personal issues that may confront you in planning your estate and helping you to recognize and avoid potential family conflicts.