From simple wills and trusts to complex estate planning scenarios involving business succession, our Wichita estate planning attorneys can provide guidance and legal services that meet your needs. Our extensive practice in estate planning and probate law involves planning and administering estates and trusts of all sizes.
Estate planning, probate and trust administration often requires knowledge in related practice areas, such as taxation and business law and litigation. Our Wichita Kansas law office has the resources readily available to create a team of lawyers with the skills necessary to meet our clients’ needs.
Wichita Estate Planning Services
At its heart, estate planning is about ensuring that your assets transfer successfully and as easily as possible to the people and/or organizations you want to have them. Every estate plan is unique, and there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Our estate planning lawyers will work with you to create and implement an estate plan that best fits your needs, goals and situation.
Our estate planning services in Wichita include:
-
Preparing tax-oriented wills and revocable trusts, irrevocable life insurance trusts, grantor retained annuity trusts, irrevocable trusts that are taxed to the grantor for income tax purposes, qualified personal residence trusts, and generation-skipping trusts.
-
Planning charitable transfers to facilitate estate planning goals, creating charitable remainder trusts, charitable lead trusts and other split-interest arrangements between charities and individuals or entities.
-
Preparing powers of attorney, including healthcare powers of attorney, living wills and advising clients on the use of these documents.
-
Forming family limited partnerships, limited liability companies, corporations, limited liability partnerships and general partnerships. (See more about our legal services for family businesses here.)
Our Wichita estate planning and probate attorneys are well-versed in methods available to reduce gift, estate, generation-skipping, inheritance, excise and income taxes to preserve family assets and facilitate transfers of assets—including family businesses—to succeeding generations. We also have extensive experience in retirement income taxation and the elections that can be made with respect to retirement plan distributions.
Guardianships, Conservatorships and Powers of Attorney
At times, it may become necessary to go to court and seek the appointment of a guardian or conservator for an adult who has become incapacitated and is no longer capable of managing his or her affairs. A power of attorney is a legal document that gives a designated person the legal right to make certain decisions and take certain actions for another.
These are not easy decisions to be taken lightly, and can often be sensitive for clients and their families. Expert guidance can make all the difference. We counsel clients and their families on the proper use of these designations and legal documents. Our attorneys can prepare powers of attorney, including healthcare powers of attorney and living wills, for clients.
Find out more about this practice area on our Guardianships and Conservatorships page.
Trust and Estate Administration
Trust administration refers to the management of the property in the trust according to the terms of the document. It is the process by which the property and assets in the trust are distributed to beneficiaries. Many steps are involved in this process. There are tax and other legal considerations. Working with an attorney will help ensure it’s done effectively and as smoothly as possible.
Services provided by our estate administration and probate attorneys include:
- Preparing federal gift, estate and generation-skipping tax returns, Kansas estate tax returns and other state death tax returns.
- Obtaining rulings from taxing authorities.
- Advising executors, trustees, conservators and other fiduciaries during the administration of estates and trusts.
- Negotiating and/or litigating will contests or trust contests and other disputes involving wills or trusts.
Trust and Probate Litigation
We represent individual heirs and beneficiaries, trustees, executors, guardians, conservators, banks, and trust companies in a variety of trust and probate litigation matters. These include will contests, reformation and modification of trusts, breaches of fiduciary duty claims, removal of fiduciaries, undue influence claims, and more. Find out more on our Trust and Probate Litigation page.
Estate Planning and Probate Law Articles
- What’s the Difference Between a Guardianship and a Conservatorship in Kansas?