Missouri Estate Planning & Elder Law Firm Serving Springfield, Branson & the Surrounding Areas

Wealth Protection is essentially about empowering clients to preserve their wealth. There are a multitude of tools clients can use to accomplish this goal. Essentially, our job is to keep you and your family in control of your property and financial affairs by understanding your unique circumstances and crafting a plan to suit your situation.

In the Estate Planning context, we address the followings issues to assist in wealth protection:

• Have you made provisions in case you become ill or end up in a nursing home?
• If the surviving spouse marries again, have you protected the estate so your spouse and your children/beneficiaries are protected?
• With respect to your beneficiaries, we focus on the following: making sure young children are provided for and protected, protecting beneficiaries from the potential of future divorce, planning for the “spendthrift” beneficiary, protecting your beneficiary who may now or in the future have special needs, and protecting a beneficiary from law suits and catastrophic health care expenses.

ELDER LAW

In the elder law context, we are intent on preserving wealth in the face of looming long-term care expenses. Our elder law attorneys help our clients plan NOW, but if a client waits until he or she is in the nursing home, preserving some assets may still be possible. Discussing your situation with an elder law attorney as soon as possible is crucial in these crisis planning situations.

BUSINESS LAW

In the Business Law context, we examine how to protect business-related property (businesses, rental real estate, etc.). Buy-sell agreements, corporate formalities, contracts, and other tools are available to make sure the business side of your estate is properly managed and protected.

ESTATE PLANNING

In the estate, probate and trust administration context, our goal is to design, implement, and maintain a plan that avoids the expenses of probate, minimizes attorney’s fees and other final expenses, and minimizes (and hopefully eliminates) the exposure to the following taxes:

• Estate Taxes (Federal and State);
• Income Taxes;
• Capital Gains Taxes;
• Gift Taxes; and
• Generation Skipping Taxes.

Avoiding these expenses serves to keep resources in the control of the family, instead of in the pocket of Uncle Sam.

1031 EXCHANGE

In the 1031 Exchange context, we assist clients in being able to consolidate or diversify their real estate holdings in a way that allows them to defer the capital gains tax when they are making these changes. In the end, we want clients to do as they please with their real estate so when they pass, the real estate qualifies for step-up in cost-basis, virtually eliminating capital gains taxes for their beneficiaries.