Porzio, Bromberg & Newman P.C.

What is Wealth Preservation?

You have worked hard for your assets. You want to see those assets and values passed to the people and organizations you care about. Wealth preservation planning is the process of becoming educated and then making decisions about the issues and laws that impact how you use your wealth. At Porzio, we partner with you to create and implement strategies that reduce taxes, protect your assets, enforce your rights, and distribute your wealth and values.

Why “Wealth Preservation”?

Our attorneys find that we help clients in so many ways that describing our services becomes a mouthful. We offer much more than tax or estate planning. Our services involve protecting your wealth during your lifetime, not just at death. We give planning advice to business owners whose company can be their largest asset. We zealously represent families in court in will contests, trust disputes and guardianships. We not only create traditional and cutting edge tax minimization strategies, but help you comply with tax reporting requirements. What do all these services have in common? Each activity is focused on helping you maintain the wealth you have built.

Why Porzio?

At Porzio, we value our relationships with our clients. Our representation is an ongoing process that provides you with expert planning and compliance guidance throughout the year—year after year. We listen closely to gauge the best individual course of action for each of our clients. As your financial needs evolve, we work together to make well informed decisions and suggestions that consider a client’s overall income tax, asset protection and estate planning objectives.

Who needs “Wealth Preservation” planning?

Anyone who wants to make “better” decisions about how their wealth will be used can benefit from wealth preservation planning.

• Beneficiaries want to understand how wealth is being distributed to them and to evaluate the fiduciaries’ actions.
• Business owners need knowledge and plans to pull the wealth from their business at sale, retirement, or to pass the business to their family.
• Disabled individuals need guidance to protect wealth from dimunation or evaporation
• Executives desire to not only understand but to maximize benefit packages.
• Executors, trustees and other fiduciaries need guidance so that the wealth with which they are entrusted is distributed properly.
• High net worth individuals benefit from strategies that reduce taxes and preserve the family assets.
• Parents want to ensure that their wealth supports their children if they are no longer here.
• Seniors seek the security to ensure their wealth is available for their long-term care needs.

What does “Wealth Preservation” encompass?

At Porzio, our service areas have grown according to the needs of our clients. As the tax laws become more complicated, tax planning evolves to new levels of sophistication and tax compliance grows in importance. As the population ages, estate planning at death expands into asset protection planning during life. As the economy changes, there is more pressure on family assets and parties may need to enforce their rights in court. If you have a question about your wealth, your family or your business, we will educate ourselves about your issue and develop a plan of action towards resolution.

The Wealth Preservation Planning Groups services include:

• Asset Protection Planning – Reduce the risk of creditors and predators to your assets and any inheritance that you design.
• Beneficiaries’ Rights – Enforce a beneficiary’s interest in an estate or trust.
• Business Planning – Create the business infrastructure to maximize value, reduce taxes, minimize liabilities and facilitate an exit strategy.
• Business Succession Planning – Design buy-sell agreements, employee incentive agreements, stock options or other strategies to successfully transition the business to a new generation of owners.
• Charitable Formation and Administration – Give life to philanthropic goals by creating public charities, private foundations, and assisting charities in complying with tax laws and procedures to maintain tax exempt status.
• Conservatorship – Represent or defend actions for a court-appointed conservator to make financial decisions for an incompetent individual.
• Education Planning – Explore methods of saving for education including the use of appreciated employer stock and tax-efficient approaches to funding 529 education plans.
• Elder Law – Assist seniors and their families with issues of aging and long-term care.
• Estate Administration – Represent executors in the process of carrying out the terms of a Will, including probate, gathering asset and liability information, preparing tax returns (estate tax, inheritance tax, income tax), and distributing assets to beneficiaries.
• Estate Litigation – Enforce the wishes and intent of a decedent in court.
• Estate Planning – Enable families to preserve the wealth they’ve earned to achieve the greatest benefit for themselves and their loved ones.
• Executor Representation – Advise executors of their role and responsibilities and create and implement plans of action to assist them in satisfying those responsibilities and minimizing personal liability.
• Exit Strategies – Counsel business owners on strategies to liquidate the value of their business during life and upon death.
• Family Office Services – Coordinate distributions, bill payment and family communication among inter-related companies and trusts for high net worth individuals.
• Fiduciary Representation – Advise executors, trustees, guardians, attorney-in-facts and healthcare representatives about their roles and responsibilities and representing them to carry out those roles before private individuals, entities, governmental authorities and in court.
• Fiduciary Services – Serve as executors, trustees, guardians, attorneys-in-fact and heathcare representatives.
• Foreign Asset Disclosure – Assist individual taxpayers in voluntary disclosure of foreign assets in compliance with US tax laws.
• Gifting – Transfer assets to family members or trusts to achieve tax planning and asset protection goals.
• Guardianships – Represent or defend actions for a court-appointed guardian to make personal and financial decisions for an incompetent individual.
• Health Care Directives – Preparing and enforcing documents to allow an agent to make medical decisions on a person's behalf without court intervention.
• Powers of Attorney - Create and enforce documents to allow an agent to make financial decisions on a person's behalf during their lifetime without court intervention.
• Probate – Assist families who have recently lost a loved one in the process of enforcing the Will.
• Retirement Planning – Offer tax-related retirement counseling to manage wealth through tax-efficient strategies such as payroll contributions to an employer-sponsored 401(k) plan.
• Tax Compliance and Planning – Ensure that clients make wise income tax decisions that have positive impacts on your wealth preservation objectives.
• Tax Controversy – Help prevent or manage an audit or appeal before the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) or a state tax department challenge your tax compliance.
• Trust Administration – Advise and prepare documentation related to trust distributions and annual accountings.
• Trust Litigation – Represent trustees to enforce or defend the terms of a trust before a court.
• Trustee Representation – Educate and advocate for trustees with regard to the fiduciary responsibilities and assist them to carry out their duties.
• Trusts – Design, implement and manage trusts (revocable trust and irrevocable trusts) to meet tax minimization, asset protection and wealth preservation goals.
• Wills – Counsel clients on will terms and designs to meet their tax minimization, asset protection and wealth preservation goals.

A Diverse Vision

A diverse workplace community serves the best interests of our clients and our people. At Porzio, Bromberg & Newman, we strive to create a professional environment and reputation that reflect our commitment to this fact. By sharing our unique perspectives and capabilities, we enrich our workplace and expand our potential. As we devote our talents to the common good, we serve our clients and each other with greater passion, creativity and effectiveness.

 Much work lies ahead in the creation of enduring diversity. The steps we take today, with confidence and the future in mind, lay a foundation for inclusion far beyond age, race and gender. Thus, we commit to employing a workforce that better reflects our diverse community. We dedicate ourselves to the continued integration of talented new employees, more effective communication, cohesive teams and professional growth across all departments. By diversifying internally, we will better comprehend the values and needs of our clients, thereby continuing to secure the financial success of the firm.

Through its Workplace Diversity Committee, Porzio, Bromberg & Newman strives to incorporate these ideals into our daily practices and infuse them in the shared spirit of the firm. The Committee shall continue to pursue ventures that demonstrate the firm’s appreciation of the strength and innovation of a diverse workplace community, one best equipped to serve the interests of our clients and our people.

Managing Principal Message on Diversity at Porzio

Diversity is a word that, in its simplest definition, means “difference.” As a business concept, it means “inclusion.” The inclusion of individuals of diverse backgrounds in today’s workplace can mean a real difference in creating an environment that is truly dynamic. Porzio, Bromberg & Newman has a proud history of serving the best interests of our clients by serving the best interests of our people, and as a firm, we recognize that our workplace environment should reflect the communities we serve. As managing principal, I want our workplace to reflect this reality. I believe that greater diversity contributes to the quality of the legal profession and increases the confidence of the people we serve. Our clients demand diversity and we are proud to be among the firms to rise to the challenge.

Throughout history, there have been those who have dreamed of the possibility of an environment in which differences are celebrated and potential maximized. Honoring diversity, however, requires more than just words or dreams. Honoring diversity requires action on the part of those dedicated to making change. Our firm, through the efforts of our Diversity Manager and Workplace Diversity Committee, is laying the groundwork to make these dreams reality. As the chairperson of our Workplace Diversity Committee, I have committed myself, and our people, to achieving the goal of increasing diversity at Porzio, Bromberg & Newman. Composed of senior level principals, associates and managers, our Committee meets frequently to evaluate our efforts and progress. As a Committee, we have established a Twelve Month Action Plan that details the steps we will take in the coming year to further the goal of increasing diversity at all levels within the firm. Our obligation, however, will not end there, because we can achieve meaningful results only over time and with honest self-reflection.

We recognize that true commitment to diversity demands establishing long-term goals not only for the recruitment of exceptional individuals of diverse backgrounds, but also for the retention of such individuals. Within five years, we anticipate that our efforts to increase diversity will be evident in all dimensions of firm life. The creation of a diverse organization is a developmental process. Each day we spend working toward that goal is another day closer to bringing down the walls that too often separate us and limit our ability to be true leaders in the legal profession.

We welcome you to visit our firm’s Diversity page at www.pbnlaw.com/pages/diversity/diversity.php to track our progress and to obtain more information on our firm’s diversity initiatives, recruiting efforts and upcoming events.