Trusts & Estates

Estate planning is a process wherein a person or family plans for the administration and dispositions of one’s property before their death. Choosing the right estate planning tool requires an experienced estate planning advisor. Most clients will need a revocable trust to help them avoid probate and to facilitate the administration of their finances in the event they become incapacitated. Additionally, many clients will need guidance structuring the beneficiary designations for their retirement plans. Family limited partnerships may be the right planning tool for some clients yet other clients may want to create educational savings (529) plans for their grandchildren. Whatever your needs, BTJD has the expertise necessary to help you reach your goals.

When a person passes away, the court appoints someone to hold legal title to the assets of the decedent and administer the decedent’s estate. This person has many responsibilities, including gathering all of the assets of the estate, filing tax returns for the estate, and distributing the assets of the estate to the designated beneficiaries. Although administering an estate can be complex and time consuming, the attorneys at BTJD can help you understand and meet those duties. We also help our clients simplify the process on the front end by creating clearly worded revocable or irrevocable trusts that dictate the terms of the administration and controls the distribution of assets. Whatever your needs, the experienced attorneys at BTJD can assist you both prepare for estate administration and assist current administrators as they administer an estate.

Estate Planning

 

  • Established multi-generational estate plan for owners of $100M family-owned manufacturing business including irrevocable legacy trusts, life insurance trusts, family limited partnerships and limited liability companies.
  • Created long-term succession and estate plan to equalize benefits to children in and out of a family-owned business.
  • Creation of multi-generational plan for the preservation of a family recreational property and ranch.
  • Assisted local business owner with the creation of non-profit tax exempt entity to perform philanthropic work of providing over-the-counter drugs to rural and foreign hospitals and orphanages.
Generally our estate and tax planning services include:

 

  • Establishment of trusts;
  • Set-up and maintenance of family limited partnerships and limited liability companies;
  • Income, estate, gift and generation-skipping tax planning;
  • Implementation of gift programs;
  • Charitable trust planning;
  • Life insurance trust planning;
  • Preparation of wills;
  • Preparation of powers of attorney;
  • Preparation of health care directives, or living wills.

 

Trust & Estate Administration

 

  • Represented trustee in administration of complex estate valued at over $20M involving multi-generational trusts, management and sale of real estate, and charitable gifts.
  • Assisted widow in the consolidation and simplification of antiquated, complex estate plan involving multiple trusts and entities.
  • Assisted non-family beneficiary of trust to identify and secure inheritance of business assets and entities.

Resources

The Utah Law of Trusts and Estates

A comprehensive online legal reference treatise. The Utah Law of Trusts and Estates website was created by our very own Rust Tippett and is designed to answer questions for attorneys and non-lawyers alike.

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