Estate Planning, Probate & Trust
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Capell & Howard’s estate planning attorneys assist clients with estate and trust planning and administration. Those services encompass basic and sophisticated techniques designed not only to provide for an effective and efficient disposition of properties, but also to avoid and minimize estate and gift taxes and other transfer-related expenses. Eight of our attorneys have advanced degrees in taxation that included specific courses in estate planning and estate taxation. A member of the firm is one of only two attorneys in the Montgomery area who is a fellow in The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC).
The firm’s estate planning services include the preparation of wills, durable powers of attorney, living wills, advanced directives, and related documents. Our estate planning attorneys prepare, as needed to accomplish clients’ goals, a variety of trusts, including charitable trusts, so-called “living trusts,” and other forms of grantor trusts, irrevocable life insurance trusts, and qualified personal residence trusts. They have substantial experience with generation-skipping transfer trusts which permit younger generations to receive a greater amount of their ancestors’ wealth and property and may provide for business continuity to protect the value of, and the roles of family members in family businesses. Our estate planning attorneys also form enterprises such as family partnerships and limited liability companies, to provide for improved property management while carrying out lifetime giving programs. Other areas of expertise include planning for persons with disabilities and special needs, preparation of prenuptial agreements, and tax planning for IRA and retirement plan accounts.
The firm is actively involved in providing legal services to estates and trusts and their fiduciaries. Our attorneys regularly advise executors, trustees, and beneficiaries regarding matters of estate and trust administration. They have served as legal counsel in connection with a number of complex proceedings, sometimes involving post-mortem estate and trust planning, including the use of disclaimers. A member of the firm was a principal author of the Alabama Uniform Disclaimer of Interests Act.
The firm represents clients before the Internal Revenue Service and courts with respect to gift and estate tax matters. Our attorneys have extensive experience with contested will, trust, and estate matters in state courts.
Our attorneys represent persons involved in protective proceedings, such as guardianships and conservatorships. An objective of effective estate planning is to minimize court involvement in a client’s personal affairs. However, sometimes during a person’s senior years or as a result of a physical or mental disability, court appointment of a guardian and/or conservator is necessary. Our attorneys have substantial experience in such matters and regularly practice before the Montgomery County Probate Court and other probate courts in the State.
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