The operative word in estate planning is "Planning."

Effective estate and trust planning is a critical step along the path to securing your future. Long term financial security is everyone’s goal and we can help lead you through the complex decisions you must make to maximize wealth accumulation, minimize tax liability and ensure your heirs receive the maximum asset distribution.

By customizing your estate plan to your particular needs, our estate planning specialists can assist in managing and conserving your estate (or your client’s estate), while reducing tax liabilities. In our estate planning process, you receive hands-on, personalized attention from knowledgeable, experienced professionals who can devise the most efficient plan at the most cost-effective fee by helping you:

• Identify family goals regarding the preservation of wealth.
• Review current wills, trust instruments, and schedules of assets.
• Estimate estate taxes under current estate plans.
• Strategize various alternatives to the current estate plans and quantify potential tax savings.
• Examine closely held business issues, including valuation, alternative methods of paying estate tax, and the transfer and/or disposition of business interests.
• Plan for assets with unique estate tax attributes, including retirement plan and life insurance benefits.
• Identify potential liquidity problems caused by federal and state estate taxes, generation-skipping transfer tax, debts, cash bequests, necessary funds for the continued operation of the family business, probate, administration costs, etc.
• Develop a lifetime gift program utilizing appropriate vehicles such as family limited partnerships, charitable trusts, and qualified personal residence trusts.
• Help you communicate and discuss your plan with your family to ensure there is a mutual understanding of your plan and a commitment to it.
• Ensure the proper implementation of the estate plan.

Most important, because we adhere to time-honored ethics and emphasize personalized attention, one-on-one relationships, and long-term commitment in all of our client dealings, we provide the personal touch of a trusted business advisor. We know that by caring about our clients, we're caring about our neighbors and the future of our region.