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Complex Estate Planning

Similar to intermediate estate planning, complex estate planning applies after a determination that your estate will be subject to the Estate Tax. All of the tools used in basic and intermediate estate planning are used in addition to a set of more complex tools.

Complex estate planning focuses on removing assets from your estate with more sophisticated means, reducing the value of assets with proven techniques, and protecting assets from creditors and lawsuits. Complex estate planning differs from basic and intermediate estate planning because the simple means for removing property from your estate have already been utilized at the intermediate level.

Persons needing complex estate planning usually have closely held businesses, various real estate holdings, and other assets with a combined value that exceeds several million dollars.

Each of the tools used in this area must be carefully structured and are too detailed to discuss here. Examples include:

• Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts
• Grantor Retained Income Trusts
• Family Limited Partnerships
• Marital Agreements that partition community property
• Lifetime Funding of a Bypass Trust or Credit Shelter Trust
• Charitable Remainder Trusts
• Family Foundations