Tax, Estate Planning & Probate

WEALTH PLANNING

The group’s attorneys are highly experienced in providing individuals and businesses with an extensive range of advice and legal services on complex issues. They have a Master of Laws in Taxation. The group provides comprehensive tax and legal advice in the following areas of wealth planning:

• All aspects of estate planning
• Sophisticated wealth transfers for individuals and their closely held businesses
• Family Partnerships
• Wills
• Trusts
• Planning techniques tailored to the individual

ESTATE PLANNING

The group’s lawyers advise clients on the merits of various estate and wealth planning options to craft a unique plan that best serves the client’s goals, including:

• Wills
• Revocable living trusts
• General durable powers of attorney
• Living wills
• Health care powers of attorney
• Educational trusts
• Life insurance planning and trusts
• Irrevocable life insurance trusts (ILITs)
• Charitable Lead and Remainder trusts
• Grantor retained annuity trusts (GRAT)
• Family limited partnerships (FLPs)
• Generation skipping and dynasty trusts
• Grantor Trusts

TAX PLANNING

The group’s practice includes all aspects of federal and state taxation, with special emphasis on:

• The formation of business entities
• Corporate reorganizations
• Mergers and acquisitions
• Corporate distributions
• Real estate transactions
• Section 1031 like-kind exchanges
• Partnership allocations
• Business sales and purchases
• Limited liability company (LLC) taxation
• Collection issues
• Tax advice on business transactions

PROBATE

While the probate process in South Carolina is relatively inexpensive when compared to some other states, the time involved in the entire process depends on whether the estate is taxable, requiring the filing of a federal estate tax return.

If the estate is taxable, the process may take several years to file the estate tax return and receive the proper tax-closing letter from the Internal Revenue Service. If the estate is not taxable and no estate tax returns are required to be filed, the entire probate process can generally be completed within a one-year period.