Frequently Asked Questions

Fixed-fee pricing scoped to your situation — get a quote. After an initial strategy call, we provide a written fixed-fee proposal so you know the full cost before we begin. No hourly surprises, no scope creep.

AI handles research and drafting — the tasks traditional firms assign to junior associates. Every document is reviewed and approved by a licensed attorney before it reaches you. The result: faster turnarounds, lower cost, and more attorney time on the strategy and conversations that actually matter.

Yes. No client data trains AI models. We maintain the same privilege protections and ethical obligations as any law firm. Our use of AI does not change your rights or our duties under the rules of professional conduct.

Book a consultation. If it's a fit, you're onboarded within 48 hours: engagement letter signed, retainer invoiced, and we're in motion. Urgent matters are handled immediately.

As soon as you have assets, dependents, or specific wishes about healthcare decisions. Life events like marriage, having children, buying property, or starting a business are common triggers.

A comprehensive estate plan typically includes a will, power of attorney, healthcare proxy, and potentially a trust depending on your assets and goals.

A will directs how your assets are distributed after death and must pass through probate — a public, court-supervised process. A trust holds assets during your lifetime, transfers them privately at death without probate, and can include incapacity planning, creditor protection, and multi-generational instructions a will cannot.

A revocable living trust can be amended or revoked by the grantor at any time and is used primarily for probate avoidance and incapacity management; its assets remain part of the taxable estate. An irrevocable trust generally cannot be changed once funded, removes the assets from the grantor's taxable estate, and is used for estate tax reduction, asset protection, and Medicaid planning.

Often yes. A will alone sends your estate through probate in every state where you own real property. A revocable living trust keeps the transfer private, avoids probate delay (typically 6-18 months in NY and NJ), and lets a successor trustee manage assets if you become incapacitated — something a will cannot do.

Your state's intestacy laws determine who inherits your assets, which may not align with your wishes. Courts appoint administrators, the process takes longer, and costs more for your family.

Yes. Estate planning covers more than tax minimization. Powers of attorney, healthcare proxies, guardianship designations, asset protection trusts, and probate avoidance benefit estates of all sizes.

Absolutely. Digital assets like cryptocurrency, NFTs, and online accounts require specific planning because access credentials can be lost permanently. Traditional estate documents often do not cover digital asset transfer.

Probate typically runs 7-18 months in New York Surrogate's Court, 9-12 months in New Jersey, and 6-12 months in Ohio for uncontested estates. Contested estates, real property in multiple states, or unclear documents can extend the process by years. A funded revocable trust avoids probate in all three states.

A trustee owes fiduciary duties of loyalty, prudence, impartiality among beneficiaries, accounting, and acting in accordance with the trust's terms. Trustees must keep trust assets separate, invest under the prudent-investor rule, file fiduciary tax returns, and provide periodic accountings to beneficiaries.

Common structures include revocable living trusts for probate avoidance, irrevocable life insurance trusts (ILITs) for estate tax reduction, grantor retained annuity trusts (GRATs) for wealth transfer, and dynasty trusts for multi-generational planning. The right combination depends on estate size, family structure, and objectives.

A long-term trust (often perpetual under state law) designed to hold wealth across multiple generations without triggering estate tax at each generation. Several states (Delaware, Nevada, South Dakota, Alaska, Wyoming) permit perpetual dynasty trusts.

Section 1202 excludes up to $10M (or 10x basis) of capital gain per taxpayer per issuer on qualified C-corp stock held 5+ years. Gifting QSBS into multiple non-grantor trusts before sale — each a separate taxpayer — multiplies the exclusion. Strict structuring required.

A Grantor Retained Annuity Trust allows a founder to transfer appreciating assets (typically pre-exit equity) and retain an annuity stream calculated to return the original value plus IRS-set interest. Appreciation above the hurdle passes gift-tax-free to beneficiaries.

A Spousal Lifetime Access Trust is an irrevocable trust one spouse funds for the benefit of the other (and often children), using federal gift tax exemption to move assets — and their future appreciation — out of the taxable estate while preserving indirect access through the beneficiary spouse. SLATs are heavily used by married couples planning before the federal exemption sunsets in 2026, and require careful drafting to avoid reciprocal-trust doctrine problems if both spouses fund SLATs for each other.

An Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust owns a life insurance policy outside the insured's taxable estate, so the death benefit passes to beneficiaries free of federal estate tax. ILITs are typically funded with annual exclusion gifts (Crummey notices) to pay premiums, and are common for families holding large term or permanent policies where the death benefit would otherwise push the estate over the federal or state exemption.

New York imposes a state estate tax with a cliff provision. If a taxable estate exceeds 105% of the state exemption, the entire estate is taxed from the first dollar, not just the amount over the threshold.

New Jersey repealed its estate tax in 2018 but retains an inheritance tax. The inheritance tax applies to transfers to certain beneficiaries, with rates varying based on the relationship between the decedent and the beneficiary. Spouses, children, and grandchildren are exempt.

Ohio repealed its state estate tax in 2013. However, Ohio estates are still subject to federal estate tax if they exceed the federal exemption. Ohio's probate process and transfer-on-death designations remain important planning considerations.

The federal estate tax exemption is scheduled to decrease significantly when the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act provisions sunset, dropping from approximately $13.6 million per person to roughly half that amount, making proactive planning critical.

Founders who wait until exit miss the most powerful planning window. Pre-exit, founder equity has a low (often nominal) valuation — moving shares into a trust at that low basis means future appreciation grows outside the taxable estate. The same shares moved post-exit at a $50M valuation use up federal exemption dollar-for-dollar.

Strategies include: 10b5-1 plans for systematic diversification, charitable remainder trusts to defer capital gain, donor-advised funds for AMT-friendly giving in ISO exercise years, exchange funds for diversification without immediate tax, and net unrealized appreciation (NUA) treatment on company stock in 401(k) accounts at retirement.

Compressed earning windows, elevated liability exposure from public profile, and complex multi-state tax situations from games played in multiple jurisdictions. The right stack looks more like a high-net-worth family office plan than a typical employee plan.

NIL income is taxable in the year earned and arrives before most athletes have any planning infrastructure. The first-pass move is forming an LLC, then layering in retirement plans, a revocable trust, and irrevocable structures appropriate to the income level.