Find Lawyers in Denver, Colorado for Trusts and Estates
Practice Area Overview
How Can a Trusts and Estates Attorney Help You?
Trust and estate attorneys help clients plan for the efficient and effective transfer of assets to spouses, to younger generation family members, to other persons clients wish to benefit, and to charities. The practice involves the preparation of trust agreements, wills, powers of attorney, medical directives, and closely held business structures, including partnerships, limited liability companies, and corporations.
What are the Trusts and Estates Practices Focal Points?
Wealth Planning
When attorneys begin the planning process, they consider your objectives, your family relationships, charitable inclinations, and the relationship of federal and state estate tax, gift tax, and generation skipping transfer tax laws to these objectives. Attorneys then work with you and, in some cases, with other advisers to design the appropriate plan to meet your goals and objectives, prepare the necessary documents to carry out the desired plan, and assist with the implementation of your plan. In connection with family wealth planning, attorneys plan and draft trust agreements and wills, create various business entities, and carry out business reorganizations.
Estate Administration
Trust and estate attorneys also handle the administration of estates. Attorneys confer with members of a decedent’s family on the various issues, including:
• Assistance to the executor with the preparation of the required probate documents and assist in valuation of estate assets
• Making insurance claims
• Preparation of final income tax returns and the estate’s income and federal and state estate tax returns
• Monitoring of the investment of the estate’s assets
• Arranging for the distribution of the estate’s net assets
• Throughout the administration of an estate, consideration is given to income tax savings through the timing of distributions and the timing and claiming of appropriate deductions.
Trust Administration
In the trust administration area, attorneys advise and consult with corporate and individual trustees concerning the discharge of the trust’s terms and consult with beneficiaries concerning trust administration matters including the preparation of trust accounts.
Trust and Estate attorneys also assist clients in all phases of probate and trust litigation. This may involve construing or reforming the terms of a will or trust, prosecuting or defending a will contest action or surcharge actions against trustees.
What is a Trusts and Estates attorneys goal for its clients?
The goal of an trust and estate attorney is to assist clients to achieve their personal goals while obtaining the significant tax savings which may be available to them through proper planning. Attorneys in the practice spend a significant amount of time dealing with the federal estate, gift, and generation skipping tax issues involved in transfer planning.
Adam is a trusted advisor to institutional investors, fund managers, and companies in fund formation, real estate, energy, and transactions.He is a vital leader in fund formation, corporate, merger and acquisition, master limited partnership, and real estate deal teams, working closely with other lawyers in the firm to achieve clients’ transactional goals. Institutional investors seek Adam’s counsel when investing in funds focused on various sectors of the economy, including hedge...
Since 1987, Dave has developed innovative solutions to help businesses and individuals manage their wealth and reduce their potential tax liabilities. He focuses his practice on wealth transfer planning and large trust administration for clients with estates worth more than $100 million. He also counsels clients on tax controversy and business succession planning. Dave has implemented more than 150 sophisticated wealth transfer and estate plans for clients all across the west. His background ...
Clients engage Ms. Dinan to help them achieve tax savings and meet family and personal goals. Her specialty is working with complex business and trust structures and her extensive experience with sophisticated planning techniques informs her unique ability to protect her clients' wealth. For more than a decade, Ms. Dinan has been advising clients in wealth transfer, estate, and business succession planning. She has deep and practical experience implementing and managing vehicles such as famil...
Heidi uses her life experience to bring a practical and relatable approach to her estate planning practice. She advises clients on a wide variety of estate planning matters, including estate and trust administration and pre and post-marital agreements. Additionally, Heidi has experience with real property, business and entity formation and general consultation, and commercial leases and contracts. Heidi is a member of the Orange Book Forms Committee and the Rules and Forms Committee of the Co...
As an experienced tax attorney, Scott counsels clients on how to effectively structure their business, oil and gas, and real estate ventures, as well as insulate wealth from transfer taxes. Scott has both the knowledge and vision to assist business owners, oil and gas executives and their families in accumulating and preserving long-term business and personal wealth. He provides invaluable guidance on selecting tax-advantageous business entities, identifying opportunities to increase after-ta...
Arthur effectively counsels clients in nonprofit and tax-exempt organizations, providing sound advice regarding qualifications for IRS recognition of tax-exempt status, charitable giving transactions, and complex joint ventures involving exempt and for-profit organizations. His experience also includes guiding clients on the intricacies of unrelated business income tax, excess benefit transactions, and self-dealing issues. He represents tax-exempt public charities, private foundations, commun...
Keith Lapuyade has more than 30 years of litigation experience. His knowledge of insurance law and bad faith, coupled with his extensive understanding of medical issues, is of particular value in medical malpractice litigation and often brings this special skill-set to bear in the personal representation of physicians, attorneys, and other professionals for purposes of establishing their rights with respect to their insurance coverage and financial well-being. Keith Lapuyade, of the law firm ...
Chelsea draws on legal knowledge and experience as a CPA to deliver pragmatic solutions to clients’ tax and business planning needs. As a former Certified Public Accountant, Chelsea brings a unique and practical perspective to her clients’ tax and business planning needs. By combining her extensive legal know-how with her previous auditing and accounting experience, she crafts creative business-focused solutions. Chelsea prepares estate planning, philanthropic, business succession...
For more than 15 years, clients have trusted Ms. Pomerantz to guide them through the complex world of taxation. She uses her extensive knowledge of estate planning and tax law to help her clients structure their wealth and avoid unnecessary taxation whenever possible. Ms. Pomerantz concentrates on estate planning and estate administration for a variety of clients. In addition, she advises clients regarding general federal taxation matters and charitable giving. Prior to joining Holland & ...
Helen’s practice focuses on estate and wealth transfer tax planning for high net worth individuals and their families. Helen specializes in sophisticated trust, estate, and wealth transfer planning for closely held business owners, executives, and other high net worth individuals. She advises clients on developing and administering complex asset management structures involving trusts, corporate entities, and private foundations. Helen also has experience in partnership taxation and has ...
Carol concentrates her practice in several related areas. One is estate and wealth transfer planning and administration, in which her clients include executives, owners of closely-held businesses, and families of significant wealth. Another is as a member of the Firm’s Trust & Estate Litigation Group in which she litigates on behalf of trustees and other fiduciaries (both individual and corporate), heirs, beneficiaries, and creditors in the resolution of probate- or trust-related di...
Mr. Wilson provides strategic advice to clients on complex corporate and individual tax matters, mergers and acquisitions, international business transactions, and IRS audits and appeals. A leader in tax law, Mr. Wilson is an Adjunct Professor in the University of Denver Graduate Tax Program, presently teaching international taxation. He also has been a speaker for the following organizations: Colorado Society of CPAs, CITE International, CLE International, Denver Tax Association, Greater Den...
Desta Asfaw develops sophisticated estate, wealth transfer, and wealth preservation planning solutions for high net worth individuals, families, and closely-held businesses. Desta specializes in complex asset structures involving a variety of wealth transfer, charitable, and business succession planning strategies. She enjoys providing her clients with strategic tax planning advice while also addressing personal goals and promoting family harmony through multiple generations. Desta typically ...
Rich assists high net worth individuals and their families with trust and estate litigation to facilitate the smooth resolution of estate planning and wealth transfer disputes. With a professional background that includes both complex litigation experience and financial institution perspective, Rich has deep knowledge of the legal and financial repercussions of estate planning decisions and fiduciary administrative practices. He represents clients in matters involving probate and fiduciary li...
Kate focuses her practice on estate and wealth transfer planning for high net worth individuals and families. Kate helps her clients achieve their personal, financial, and tax planning goals. She regularly advises clients on the development and implementation of tax-efficient strategies for the management and transfer of private wealth. Prior to joining Holland & Hart, Kate was a Business and Real Estate attorney at Sherman & Howard.
Marika counsels businesses in the food, beverage, and consumer products industry, guiding brands through business-critical decisions and transactions. Marika assists growth-oriented clients on a range of corporate and transactional legal issues, including financing from private and venture capital sources, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate compliance and governance. From formation to ultimate exit, Marika utilizes a practical approach to help clients solve legal issues. Before joining H...
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