Practice Areas

Our Practice Areas

We represent clients in a broad range of matters that are important to them.

Estate & Trust Administration

We represent individual and corporate fiduciaries (executors, administrators and trustees) and beneficiaries in a wide range of estate and trust administration matters, including:

  • Helping executors and administrators in all aspects of decedents’ estates, including probating wills, filing inventories and estate tax returns, collecting and distributing assets and filing final accountings or financial reports.
  • Advising trustees on the proper administration of trusts, compliance with fiduciary duties and filing periodic and final accountings or financial reports.
  • Protecting the rights of beneficiaries by reviewing wills, trust documents, court filings and accountings on their behalf and resolving any objections through negotiation or litigation with other parties to the proceeding.

Estate Planning

We appreciate that our clients are individuals, each with a unique set of goals and concerns. We work closely with each client to create a custom-tailored estate plan that fulfills the client’s goals in a tax-efficient manner, addressing some or all of the following topics:

  • Lifetime estate planning techniques that can benefit the client’s family and friends and charity now, while minimizing estate and gift taxes now and in the client’s estate. Depending on the facts of each case, we are happy to discuss whether a number of planning techniques might be appropriate, including annual exclusion gifts, Crummey trusts, irrevocable life insurance trusts, outright gifts or gifts in trust in excess of the annual exclusion amount, FLPs, low-interest loans, GRATs, QPRTs, charitable lead trusts, charitable remainder trusts, donor advised funds and private foundations.
  • Disability planning, including preparation of Powers of Attorney and Advance Directives to ensure continuity in financial and healthcare decision-making in the event of the client’s incapacity. We also work with families in cases where a family member has fallen ill and did not engage in advance planning.
  • Planning for the transfer of property at death to ensure that the client’s assets pass as intended, with attention to structuring the plan to minimize estate taxes, including drafting wills and revocable trusts and coordinating beneficiary designations for non-probate assets such as joint accounts and life insurance.
  • Post-mortem planning in the context of an estate administration, including disclaimers and tax elections.

Real Estate

We represent individuals and businesses in the purchase, sale and leasing of residential and commercial real estate, including related mortgage and re-financing matters. We also assist in landlord-tenant and land use disputes.

Landlord/Tenant Law

We represent parties in disputes in the area of landlord/tenant law. While most such relationships start out friendly, sometimes issues arise that the two parties perceive from very different points of view. Whether they are conditions of premises, failure to pay rent, or disputes over the return of security deposits, we counsel our clients regarding the law and suggest possible mutually agreeable resolutions. If an agreement cannot be reached, we either commence legal action or defend such action in the special Housing Courts that were established to deal with these difficult conflicts. Often more than money is at stake in these cases and we represent our clients aggressively to achieve a satisfactory result.

Divorce

Divorce often means a terribly difficult time in one’s life. Dealing with such life-altering issues like custody arrangements, support orders and parenting plans can create feelings of fear, doubt and cause upheaval of the parties’ lives. We can help guide you through the maze with decades of experience and understanding. We take care to listen to your concerns and goals. We build a team of experts in the fields of income taxes, real estate and business values, estate planning and psychological consultation to optimize your results. If the case cannot be resolved we take the lead in vehemently advocating your case in court.

We will represent your interests in matters such as the following:

  • Child Support
  • Alimony
  • Parenting Plans with Custody and Visitation
  • Relocation Cases
  • Property Division
  • Modifications
  • Pre-Nuptial Agreements