Careful estate planning is essential for high-net-worth individuals to protect their wealth, minimize tax liabilities, and make certain substantial assets are distributed according to their wishes.
While there are a number of complex tax and legal structures that may achieve a certain outcome, each client’s personal circumstances and family dynamics are unique. Therefore, high-net-worth estate planning is a sophisticated process that requires an experienced team of professionals who can tailor your estate plan to your specific goals and values.
With over 40 years of service and more than 300 years of combined experience, the attorneys at Pierro, Connor & Strauss are prepared to handle the most complex estate plans involving significant assets, business successions, complex family dynamics, and other requirements.
Handling a Wide Range of High-Asset Estate Planning Issues
Some common scenarios that call for the services of a high-net-worth estate planning attorney in NYC include:
- Creating an estate plan that maximizes the estate and gift tax exemption so that you can pass on more of your wealth to your heirs instead of the Internal Revenue Service. In 2025, an individual can transfer $13,990,000 tax-free and for couples it is $27.98 mil., ensuring that wealth is preserved for future generations.
- Planning ahead and making strategic moves to avoid the New York State estate tax cliff, which kicks in once your estate exceeds $7,160,000, with a “cliff” of 105% of that amount ($7,518,000), at which point the exemption is reduced to $0.00 and tax is paid on the full amount.
- Accounting for the Sunset of 2017 Trump tax cuts at the end of 2025, with federal exemption levels cut approximately in half. However, the exemptions may be extended with the incoming President’s support. We’re monitoring the situation and its impact on our clients closely and will keep you in the loop as changes are rolled out.
- Prepare estate and/or gift tax returns and resolve audits with state and federal revenue departments. Beginning on January 1, 2025, the annual exclusion for gifts increases to $19,000, rising from $18,000 for calendar year 2024.
We strive to maximize the wealth for yourself, children, grandchildren, and charitable organizations while shielding them from heavy tax burdens on those assets.
Complex Portfolios
From investment accounts, real estate, digital assets such as NFTs and Bitcoin, as well as fine art, retirement assets and international holdings, our clients come to us with diverse types of assets, all of which must be addressed as part of an effective estate plan.
With the strategic use of trusts and other estate planning instruments, our attorneys facilitate the smooth and seamless dispensation of these assets while minimizing estate taxes and ensuring compliance with all jurisdictional regulations. Techniques include:
- Charitable Remainer Trusts (CRT)
- Spousal Lifetime Access Trusts (SLAT)
- Beneficiary Defective Inheritor’s Trusts (BDIT)
- Intentionally Defective Grantor Trusts (IDGT)
- Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts
- Gift Planning
