WILLS & Probate

The attorneys at Caldwell East & Finlayson PLLC who practice in the Wills and Probate group focus their practice on many facets of wills, estate planning, legacy planning, probate and trust administration, asset protection planning, trust and estate litigation, charitable gift planning and related areas of tax, trust and fiduciary law. The Wills and Probate practice group performs vital estate, financial, and tax planning for clients of various economic means and family situations.  CEF attorneys have represented a broad range of family businesses and individual clients.

Asset Protection and Estate Planning

The attorneys at Caldwell East & Finlayson PLLC advise individual and business clients about strategies for preserving wealth and transferring it to their families or their beneficiaries. Our clients have diverse backgrounds, professions, family circumstances and asset holdings. They include owners of closely-held businesses, executives of publicly-held corporations, individuals with substantial inherited wealth, professionals such as doctors, lawyers and educators, and extended families with complex asset holdings and family offices. Our wealth transfer and estate planning for these diverse clients are customized to individual circumstances and objectives. Caldwell East & Finlayson PLLC delivers its skilled services based on the needs of our clients.

Our many years of experience have exposed us to a wide variety of situations and have taught us to be good listeners and to respond timely to our client’s concerns. Our clients typically want more than strategies to minimize taxes. They seek our judgment about the protection of wealth from creditors, failed marriages and possible fiscal irresponsibility of beneficiaries. They want our views about the impact of wealth on younger family members and our suggestions about educating younger generations on wealth management and philanthropy.

Our estate planning work generally leads to the preparation of wills, trust agreements, powers of attorney, and living wills and in appropriate cases, limited partnership, limited liability company documents and buy-sell agreements. Our planning documents are drafted for the unique circumstances of every client and reflect emerging legal and tax issues, and, most importantly, are customized to fit the particular circumstances of each client.

Estate and Trust Administration, Probate Litigation and Related Services

Caldwell East & Finlayson PLLC represents executors and trustees in their probate of wills and administration of trusts. Our clients include family members who have no prior experience with fiduciary roles as well as large and sophisticated trust companies.

Our work for these fiduciaries includes probating wills, assistance with the collection and valuation of assets, compliance with probate, estate and trust laws, preparation or review of income and estate or inheritance tax returns, special legal issues that arise during the course of estate or trust administration, and proceedings at the end of estate or trust administration to discharge the fiduciaries from liability.

The attorneys at Caldwell East & Finlayson PLLC regularly represent clients in disputes involving estate and trust matters. We have appeared before courts throughout the state. Estate and trust disputes can take a variety of forms.

Charitable Planning

Many of our clients are charitably minded. They seek our advice about alternative strategies for their philanthropic giving and the tax consequences associated with it.

We regularly prepare charitable remainder trusts and charitable lead trusts. We help clients to establish private charitable foundations and to secure IRS recognition of their tax-exempt status, as well as advising about legal and tax issues that arise during the ongoing administration of such foundations.