Estate Planning and Probate

Fort Worth, Texas, Trust and Estates Attorneys

Estate Planning | Estate Administration | Probate Litigation

Broude, Smith & Jennings, P.C., provides comprehensive estate planning services to individuals and families, from simple wills and trusts to advanced tax-saving strategies. We also represent fiduciaries in settling estates and managing trusts, and handle legal disputes arising from probate administration.

Although we handle the most complex estate planning tools, we aim for the simplest plan necessary to protect you and guide your family members' decisions. Our lawyers clearly explain options so that clients can make informed choices.

Our estate planning, probate, and estate administration practice serves clients throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area and surrounding counties of North Texas.

Basic Estate Planning

Every family, regardless of the size of the estate, should have a plan for future contingencies, such as death or incapacity. In close consultation with your wishes, we draft the essential components:

• Wills and ancillary documents
• Durable powers of attorney for financial transactions
• Medical powers of attorney for healthcare decisions
• Living wills (medical directives)
• Determining a guardian for children

Intermediate Estate and Tax Planning

With an increase in wealth among individuals, the traditional estate planning role has expanded to include basic tax planning focused on reducing or eliminating the transfer taxes imposed, while simultaneously achieving our clients' goals.

Planning at this level includes:

• Revocable management trusts (living trusts)
• Marital deduction trusts
• Credit shelter trusts
• Life insurance planning
• Gifts to minors
• Education planning
• Retirement planning
• Estate administration and probate
• Liquidity and tax payment issues
• Domestic asset protection
• Prenuptial planning

Advanced Estate Planning

For high net worth individuals, prudent estate planning effectively leverages the client's annual gift tax exclusion, lifetime exemption, and generation-skipping transfer tax exemption. Our lawyers advise on the necessity of freezing the values of property within the client's estate by utilizing entities such as closely held businesses, partnerships, and trusts. We can also represent the client, the estate, the trust, or the fiduciary in tax audits and controversies, will contests, or complex fiduciary litigation.

Planning at this level involves specific tax planning advice from our resident tax attorney and identifies appropriate estate planning instruments to achieve client goals:

Gifting Strategies

• Annual exclusion
• Lifetime exemption
• Partition
• Gift splitting

Second-Generation Planning

• Generation-skipping transfer tax and exemption planning
• Dynasty trust

Charitable Planning

• Charitable gifts
• Charitable remainder trusts or charitable lead trusts
• Private foundations, public foundations, and supporting organizations

Closely Held Businesses

• Succession planning
• Buy-sell agreements anticipating death, incapacity, or divorce

Estate Freezing

• Family limited partnerships
• Limited liability companies
• Grantor-retained annuity trusts
• Sale to defective trusts
• Installment sales
• Qualified personal residence trust

Estate and Probate Administration

Broude, Smith & Jennings, P.C., assists the personal representative in the efficient settling of a loved one's estate or trustees in managing a trust after death, including:

• Marshaling assets
• Paying debts / liquidating assets
• Distributions to heirs
• Filing tax returns for the estate
• Managing assets of the trust
• Distributions to trust beneficiaries
• Reporting and auditing obligations

Probate Litigation

We represent heirs, excluded heirs, the estate in will contests, and the estate or executors in allegations of breach of fiduciary duty.

Plan today for events that may come unexpectedly soon. Contact our wills, trusts, and estates attorneys at (817) 335-1615 to arrange a consultation at your convenience.