Estate Planning and Personal Representation: Areas of Practice

Domestic Relations Planning and Counseling

  • Preparation of prenuptial and post-nuptial agreements, including asset protection planning for couples
  • Contracts and planning for unmarried cohabitants
  • Income, gift and estate planning and other counseling for property divisions and financial settlements related to divorce, separation and termination of domestic partnerships
  • Matrimonial disputes, typically resolved without litigation, but can be pursued through mediation, trial and appeal, if necessary

Charitable Planning

(Includes private foundations, supporting organizations, split-interest trusts, charitable institution endowments and contributions)

  • Creation of philanthropy entities
  • Trusts for income, estate and gift tax reduction
  • Large wealth transfers to established institutions, ensuring that donor wishes are carried out
  • Tax, business and regulatory advice to not-for-profit institutions

Family Income Tax Planning

  • Structures and transactions that minimize the impact of federal and local income taxes

Family Partnerships and Limited Liability Companies

  • Creation of entities that provide control of transferred wealth, protect assets and reduce gift and estate taxes

General Personal Representation

  • Litigation
  • Insurance claims
  • Acquisition and disposition of investments
  • Criminal and regulatory matters

Gifts

  • Counseling regarding lifetime transfers to individuals, including gift tax and income tax issues

Incapacity Planning

  • Documents that deal with loss of capacity in order to avoid court supervision and resulting publicity

Probate

  • Court-supervised administration of property following death
  • Will and trust litigation and contests
  • Court-supervised revision of estate planning documents and transfers by an incapacitated person—estate planning using "Substituted Judgment"
  • Resolution of conflicting claims of a surviving spouse and the children of a previous marriage and other claimants

Trust Establishment and Administration

  • Creation of trust documents that support tax planning and wealth preservation, conservation and management
  • Management and sale (where appropriate) of complicated business holdings, art, collectibles, intellectual property and other potentially complicated assets
  • Devising strategies for post-mortem tax planning
  • Assisting newly wealthy and sometimes financially unsophisticated heirs in learning how to manage wealth wisely and effectively

Wills and Living Trusts

  • Sophisticated documents dealing with the administration of wealth in the event of incapacity or death

©2003-2010 Cooley LLP. All rights reserved.
COOLEY®, the COOLEY GODWARD KRONISH LLP® logo, and COOLEY GODWARD® are registered U.S. service marks of Cooley LLP.
Cooley was founded in 1920 – for our story, visit our history page.