Practice Areas & Industries: McGuireWoods LLP

Practice Group Overview

Our Private Wealth Services team is one of the largest in the country and is focused on handling the needs of high net worth clients. Our size, extensive experience, unmatched list of clients, and strong presence in strategic markets sets us apart from our competitors.

Providing comprehensive service to clients is a priority for McGuireWoods. The group's expertise includes:

• Tailoring estate plans to the needs of family members in all generations.
• Developing creative and effective techniques to transfer wealth on a tax-efficient basis.
• Advising clients on succession issues in family businesses.
• Assisting corporate executives in minimizing taxes.
• Creating charitable foundations.
• Helping clients establish family offices.

Our experience and size also allow us to stay at the forefront of the development and analysis of estate planning, tax, and probate issues affecting clients. At the national level, our lawyers contribute to the formation of tax policy by participating in the development of legislation, regulations, and groundbreaking rulings and often publish articles concerning trends and changes in law. We are well positioned to serve local and national needs involving effective planning, aggressive prosecution of tax and fiduciary controversies, and resolution of policy matters at all levels.

Services Available

Charitable Giving and Tax-Exempt Organizations

Making gifts to tax-exempt organizations requires careful planning to maximize the benefits to both giver and receiver. We provide a complete range of services to individuals interested in making charitable gifts to both public charities and private foundations.

Our work includes the planning, implementation, and, where appropriate, administration of outright gifts as well as planned gifts such as the use of bargain sales, charitable remainder trusts, charitable lead trusts, charitable gift annuities, and private foundations. Much of this work is coordinated with the client's estate planning to reduce taxes and achieve the client's goals.

We also represent numerous tax-exempt organizations, including publicly supported charities and private foundations. Our work in this area includes establishment of tax-exempt organizations, initial and annual compliance with the tax laws, and tax controversies and litigation. We also assist many of our clients in their fundraising and development efforts by guiding them through the planned giving rules and preparing proposals for prospective donors.

Family Businesses

Owners of closely held businesses have unique problems and opportunities. Of particular concern for most business owners is planning for the transfer of ownership and control of the family business from one generation to the next.

We assist business owners in the formulation of plans designed to keep the business in the family while minimizing taxes. We consider the impact of income, gift, estate, and generation-skipping taxes and plan for cash needs. We have substantial experience in designing techniques to withdraw cash from businesses to meet the family's needs during the principal owner's life as well as at death.

Integrating valuation discount and estate freezing techniques can save significant tax dollars for the family. Our technology capabilities enable us to assist in analyzing alternatives and in designing the best plan for the family business owner.

Whatever the business owners' particular goals may be, we work to ensure that the plan implemented is practical, flexible, and consistent with the owners' goals and business needs.

Trusts and Estates

Estate Planning
McGuireWoods lawyers serve individual clients who seek to transfer assets efficiently to their chosen beneficiaries. As a part of our estate planning services, we also consider the impact of federal income, estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer taxes on the transmission of wealth. We often help our clients achieve tax savings by establishing trusts for the benefit of family members. We also advise our clients about the many forms of charitable giving that may be used to reduce taxes.

Planning of this nature includes providing for the special needs of family members, protecting the family assets, and assuring professional management of these assets.

Our lawyers assist our business clients in transferring ownership and control of their businesses efficiently, using restrictive shareholder and partnership agreements, reorganization of corporations, operating agreements of LLCs, and a variety of other strategies.

Estate Administration
We advise executors and trustees about administration of estates and trusts and guide them in all aspects of fulfilling their responsibilities, including advice on income taxation of estates and trusts as well as gift and estate taxation.

We represent clients in resolving will disputes, interpreting wills and trusts, and related litigation.