Estate, Gift, and Succession Planning

Enhance and secure your financial well-being.

Do you have a plan?

Over the years we have engaged with many families in their focus on planning their estates and on succession planning in their businesses. At times, our most beneficial service to these families has been to encourage them to focus on these important matters. Most often, we are in a “trusted advisor” role with our clients and have good knowledge of their financial situations and aspirations, as well as of their family dynamics.

Dean Dorton’s estate, gift, and succession planning team

Over time, Dean Dorton has helped many clients through these processes and have gained a wealth of practical experience. We seek to add value beginning with the planning processes and working through the implementation and administration of the plans.

Some of the things we frequently help our clients with in the estate planning, gift planning, and succession and exit strategy planning and administration process are:

  • Assisting you in developing asset and liability information necessary to begin the estate planning process

  • Helping you think about who should play important roles, such as trustee and executor

  • Helping you understand different gift strategies – their tax savings, operations, complexity, and other elements

  • Helping you consider the appropriateness of different structures for you and your family—every family is different, has its own goals and values, and its own family dynamics

  • Helping you fit your charitable goals into your planning and maximizing the tax benefits of your charitable giving

  • Ensuring that your gifting plan will leave you sufficient liquid assets to maintain your desired lifestyle

  • If you own your own business, guiding you through the business succession process, which includes so many additional complexities—who will take over leadership and when, how the succession will be funded, and how to “equalize” inheritances when one or more children will be involved in the business and others will not

  • Determine liquidity needs to fund payment estate taxes

  • Preparing business valuations needed for your planning

  • Helping administer your gift and estate planning structure to ensure that it meets your goals

  • Helping your executor and family through the difficult time after your passing

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