Practice Areas & Industries: Holland & Hart LLP

Practice/Industry Group Overview

Holland & Hart attorneys address wealth transfer and trusts and estate planning from a client-focused perspective, working as a team to bring a problem-solving attitude to each project.

Client Focus
We strive to be lifelong advisors for our clients and their families. To that end, we begin each engagement by obtaining a thorough understanding of each client's individual financial and family objectives. It is not uncommon for a client to request a simple will and leave with a comprehensive plan to minimize federal and state income taxes for the family business, provide a smooth business transition upon death, and greatly reduce estate taxes. Each estate and wealth transfer plan is customized to meet the goals of the particular client - we have no "cookie-cutter" answers and we do not sell products as solutions.

Teamwork
Each team consists of the client and his or her CPA, investment professionals, family office and other financial and business advisors working along side Holland & Hart attorneys and other professionals. Working closely with other advisors allows us to meet our clients' overall goals in a way that would not be possible with a narrow estate planning focus. It is efficient, effective, and enjoyable.

Our wealth transfer, trusts, and estates team consistes of 20 attorneys and many other professionals covering our 15 offices throughout the Mountain West Region. Our attorneys focus on different aspects of our practice. Most clients have one or two main attorney contacts, but we increase the depth of our advice by frequently consulting with other Holland & Hart attorneys who concentrate on particular aspects of our practice such as private foundations, or who practice in areas such as corporate and partnership income tax, state and local tax, and corporate matters. State tax, for example, is an area in which we frequently surprise clients with tax savings they were not expecting.

In particular, we have a great deal of experience in complex income and estate tax planning. It is common for estate planning attorneys to focus on preparing wills and trusts while largely ignoring tax issues. We relish the opportunity utilize sophisticated lifetime and testamentary techniques such as family limited liability companies and partnerships, irrevocable grantor trusts, irrevocable life insurance trusts, charitable split interest trusts, and private foundations in order to meet our clients' goals while significantly lowering their tax burdens.

An integral part of the team is our experienced attorneys and paralegals who provide efficient administration of estates and trusts and are well-equipped to prepare estate tax returns, help resolve intra-family conflicts, and advocate against the IRS on valuation and tax issues. Our fiduciary litigation attorneys have experience in representing beneficiaries and individual ahd corporate trustees in contested matters.

Services Available

Creative Solutions
We bring creative, practical, customized solutions to meet our clients' personal goals. We pride ourselves on never saying that something cannot be done - rather, we focus on finding and implementing solutions. Many of our clients are successful people whose main objectives are to provide financial security for their surviving spouse and minimize estate taxes in order to leave as much wealth as possible to their children. These clients need careful testamentary planning, including well-prepared wills or revocable trusts, financial and medical powers of attorney, and living wills. As part of this basic estate planning, we also analyze asset titling, which is a critical part of estate tax planning, and beneficiary designations for retirement assets and life insurance. We have successfully used irrevocable life insurance trusts to provide for our clients' families, resulting in minimal estate taxes.

In addition, many of our clients require more complex lifetime planning in order to meet their business, family, and tax goals. These clients include ranchers and closely-held business owners with businesses ranging from farms and ranches to resort ownership to investments. Our planning for these clients often begins with current income tax planning involving the choice of entity for their business and personal wealth. In order to minimize estate taxes, we utilize complex wealth transfer techniques involving discounting assets for estate tax purposes, deflecting unneeded income and appreciation to the next generation, and freezing values for estate and gift tax purposes through transactions with irrevocable trusts. We address the management of multi-generational wealth with long-term trusts that are exempt from generation-skipping transfer taxes. Charitable trusts can provide significant income and estate tax savings and allow tax-efficient diversification of assets, in additon to the attainment of philanthropic goals. We have established private foundations for many families to meet their charitable and family involvement objectives. For our clients with this more complex planning, we maintain active involvement, consulting with their advisors and analyzing the status of their plan to suggest ways to improve upon their objectives.

Estate Planning and Administration
We have substantial experience in "traditional" estate planning. The typical estate plan includes several components. We help our clients structure ownership of their assets to maximize the use of the estate tax exemption of both spouses and avoid probate where this makes sense. We prepare sophisticated testamentary documents (wills or revocable trusts, as applicable) to meet our clients' goals, usually to provide financial security for a surviving spouse, establish trusts to protect children, and provide incentives, designate guardians for minor children and minimize estate taxes. We also focus on customized beneficiary designations for our clients' life insurance and retirement assets, often a significant source of wealth, and a type of asset that requires very careful attention to detail in order to minimize estate and income taxes. Finally, we prepare financial and medical powers of attorney and living wills to ensure that our clients' wishes are carried out even if they are incapacitated.,

We also prepare irrevocable trusts for many of our clients. Such trusts can include irrevocable life insurance trusts - a very effective vehicle for eliminating estate taxes on life insurance assets - and irrevocable trusts for minors that qualify for the annual exclusion from gift taxes.

An estate administration team typically includes an attorney, a paralegal, and a CPA in order to provide effecive and efficient services to the personal representative of an estate. We prepare and file probate documents and assist with the valuation, inventory, and transfer of assets. We have extensive experience with minimizing estate and income taxes and preparing state tax returns.

Probate, Trust, and Fiduciary Litigation, Alternative Dispute Resolution, and Tax Controversies
In addition to administering estates and trusts, we are prepared to address any litigation that may arise during the administration of an estate or trust. Our attorneys represent trust companies, financial institutions, personal representatives, trustees, creditors, agents under powers of attorney, and individuals. Our team assists these clients in preventing, responding to, and defending estate and trust related claims in IRS audits, mediation, arbitration, hearings, and trials. Holland & Hart provides our clients with a distinct advantage because our attorneys combine litigation skills with their experience in the areas of tax, trusts, estates, and probate. We also represent fiduciaries and beneficiaries in complex trust administration matters, including assisting many of these clients in working with their investment professionals.

REPRESENTATIVE PROJECTSTrust Administration
     • Individual and corporate fiduciary representation

Charitable Planning
     • Testamentary charitable gifts
     • Charitable lead and remainder trusts
     • Conservation easements
     • Private foundations

Wealth Transfer Planning
     • Estate tax minimization
     • Family limited liability companies and limited partnerships
     • Irrevocable trusts, including intentionally defective irrevocable trusts, grantor retained         income trusts, irrevocable life insurance trusts, and charitable lead and remainder         trusts
     • Dynasty trusts
     • Values-based trust provisions

Wealth Maintenance
     • Coordinate investment professionals

Business Succession Planning
     • Key employee ownership and incentive compensation
     • Choice of entity

Income Tax
     • Choice of entity/pass-through taxation
     • State income tax situs and minimization
     • Fiduciary income tax

Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution
     • Probate and fiduciary
     • IRS controversy

Estate Planning and Administration
     • Wills, revocable trusts
     • Powers of attorney
     • Asset titling and beneficiary designations

Probate and Trust Administratiotn
     • Estate tax return preparation

Marital Agreements