Family/Strategic Wealth Planning

Wealth management, tax efficiency and family harmony are of great importance to successful families.  The shared values and aspirations of a multigenerational family should be evident and upheld throughout plans. Thoughtful and creative planning must be marked by the highest level of technical tax advice and wealth preservation techniques.   Greenberg Glusker’s Family Wealth Group combines all these defining elements to provide a platform for the increased success of future generations of a family. 

Our Family Wealth Group forms one of the largest trusts and estates practices in Southern California. Our professionals work closely with our client families, and all of their wealth advisors, to develop individually tailored solutions to wealth transfer and preservation challenges that reflect the family’s aspirations and values.

Typically, our clients own a broad range of assets and are engaged in diverse endeavors. Consequently, providing effective estate planning for our clients involves more than the preparation of standard estate planning documents.  We collaborate with attorneys in our Firm’s Real Estate, Business, Entertainment and Intellectual Property Groups early in the planning process.  Our big-picture perspective ensures that a client’s wealth transfer plan takes into account planning for proper business succession, as well as considerations of the family’s values and philanthropic goals.

The expertise of our Trusts and Estates Group in post-mortem administration, income and estate tax compliance for trusts and estates, and estate tax controversies is similarly supplemented by the wide-ranging knowledge of our Firm’s attorneys.  We draw upon firmwide resources to resolve issues that might occur in civil litigation, employment, real estate, business and tax.

Our experience has taught us that even the most careful and efficient tax planning techniques can fail to preserve family wealth when intra-family disputes arise.  Should familial conflicts emerge, our attorneys call upon the highly specialized skills of our Trusts and Estates Group and our Litigation Group. Together, Greenberg Glusker attorneys manage all aspects, where appropriate, of pre-litigation negotiations, alternative dispute resolution and litigation.

Representing tax-exempt organizations requires legal expertise in diverse areas, including state and federal tax law, nonprofit corporation law and, in many cases, estate planning law.  Greenberg Glusker’s significant experience in each of these areas allows our lawyers to counsel clients comprehensively on establishing and administering a tax-exempt organization. 

Moreover, we can identify tax, business and family planning opportunities associated with the establishment of a tax-exempt organization.  Our substantial experience in this area,  and our commitment to keeping current on the rapidly changing rules and regulations governing tax exempt organizations, enable us to support and ensure our clients’ continued legal compliance  at all times.

Representative Experience

  • Coordinated planning by Portuguese, British and Dutch advisors for client acquiring real property in Portugal through a Dutch limited liability company and foundation.
  • Counseled high net worth families regarding the creation of estate planning structures that not only minimize transfer taxes but that also reflect the values of the family with respect to education, charitable giving and community involvement.
  • Provided United States transfer tax planning for multinational families, including lifetime planning with domestic securities, life insurance and real property, and planning, preparation and establishment of offshore trust and corporate structures.
  • Provided counseling under new regulations regarding the proper structuring of corporate and private split-dollar insurance transactions.
  • Provided counseling to families with closely-held business interests regarding business succession planning, estate tax planning and tax planning prior to the sale or public offering of the closely-held business.
  • Successfully defended trustees who were alleged to have failed to follow the terms of the trusts that they were administering.
  • Obtained $1 million judgment against trustee who had committed multiple breaches of trust.
  • Obtained $500,000 settlement for daughter who had received nothing from her mother's estate because of her stepfather’s undue influence over her mother.
  • Obtained numerous favorable valuation settlements, including discounts for lack of control and marketability, with the Internal Revenue Service in connection with estate and gift tax return audits.
  • Established investment vehicles for families to diversify investments and centralize management.
  • Advised clients regarding economics and advisability of various sophisticated transfer tax plans.  These include Qualified Personal Residence Trusts, Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts, Charitable Remainder Trusts, Charitable Lead Trusts, Private Annuity Trusts and other Irrevocable Trusts. We also assisted clients in implementing these plans.
  • Creation of family constitutions and family councils.

For more information, please contact Laura A. Zwicker, Chair of Greenberg Glusker's Family/Strategic Wealth Planning Group.