Practice Areas & Industries: Carlton Fields, P.A.

Practice/Industry Group Overview

Estate and Trust Planning

An estate represents a lifetime of hard work, careful planning, risk, and reward. Our clients take the task of protecting, managing, and transferring their assets very personally. So do we.

At Carlton Fields, we work closely with clients to craft smart, workable, cost-effective plan that achieves clients' estate, gift, and probate objectives. We help our business clients protect and transfer control and ownership of their personal and business assets. Options include restrictive stockholder and partnership agreements, corporate reorganization, and a variety of other arrangements.

We also assist clients in planning their personal estates. Such planning requires careful and complete analysis of all tax laws -- federal income, estate, gift, and generation skipping -- which govern the passage of wealth. Out of that analysis, we often recommend family limited partnerships or liability companies to effectively transfer future appreciation of assets while maintaining control in our clients and lessening their tax burden; establishing trusts for a surviving spouse, children, and grandchildren to minimize taxes; or other effective ways to satisfy our clients' present goals with future planning opportunities which will save future taxes. Many forms of charitable giving can also reduce taxes significantly.

Estate and Trust Administration

Managing the affairs of a trust or probate estate can often be an involved and, at times, a daunting prospect. Florida law requires strict adherence to various fiduciary standards, laws and regulations in the management of estates, trusts and their assets. It is here that Carlton Fields attorneys offer tremendous assistance and guidance with and through the myriad of issues and processes that any administrator may face. This guidance and assistance does not necessarily depend on whether Carlton Fields attorneys initially prepared the underlying trust or estate documents. Carlton Fields draws on over 100 years of counseling and assisting clients in this area. Our experienced attorneys have represented a variety of institutional and individual clients through the procedures and potential pitfalls of fiduciary administration, culminating in successful closings and resolution of the estates, trusts or guardianships. Frequently recurring issues in these areas involve partial or interim distributions from a trust or estate, payment of necessary or appropriate expenses for or of estates and trusts (including compensation of the fiduciary and those hired by the fiduciary), post-death tax planning and the preparation and completion of income and estate tax returns, interpretation of underlying trust or estate documents, transfers of property, payment of claims, continuation and operation of a business, interactions with beneficiaries and creditors, and a whole host of other issues and potential obstacles. Based on the experience of Carlton Fields attorneys, we approach these matters in a dedicated, creative and flexible way, always with the goal of efficient, prompt and cost effective administration consistent with the underlying governing documents and requirements of Florida law.

Estate and Trust Litigation

Many times a trust or estate is confronted with litigation; at times, this is a proactive decision and at other times the estate or trust is the recipient of a lawsuit as a defendant. Carlton Fields has been involved in many such lawsuits in all areas involving trusts and estates, and our geographic presence assures that venue will not pose a difficulty for representation. Carlton Fields has handled lawsuits involving trusts and estates irrespective of whether its attorneys were involved in the underlying estate planning or trust drafting. Moreover, every conceivable participant in such legal proceedings has been represented by Carlton Fields: these include the fiduciaries (personal representatives, trustees, or guardians), beneficiaries, creditors or other interested persons. The Carlton Fields experience bank in this field is most impressive and extensive, befitting its geographic reach and longevity as a premier firm. Litigation matters handled by Carlton Fields attorneys run the gamut from will contests, elective share proceedings, pre- or post-nuptial agreement enforcement, creditors' claims and related lawsuits, litigation related to the business of a decedent and its continued operations, contests pertaining to compensation paid or proposed to be paid to fiduciaries and others, tax litigation, including tax court proceedings, removal of fiduciaries, surcharge proceedings, and a wide variety of other actions. We have represented individuals, businesses and institutional fiduciaries in estate and trust disputes involving several thousands to multiple millions of dollars worth of assets. As with our litigation practice in other fields, Carlton Fields attorneys focus on our clients' goals and purposes, and are sensitive to the most efficient and cost effective resolutions and solutions available, including, where appropriate, alternative dispute resolution procedures.