Estate, Trust & Business Planning

Clients turn to Maynard Nexsen for seasoned, expert advice and guidance concerning the security of their assets now and in the future. The attorneys in the Firm's Estate, Trust & Business Planning Practice Group provide comprehensive services, which include:

• Sophisticated will and trust drafting
• Formation and operation of private family foundations 
• Pre-nuptial and post-nuptial agreements including related business and tax advice
• Advice and outside general counsel services to trustees, trust departments, and trust companies
• Income, estate, and gift tax planning including federal, state, local, and international tax planning
• Business planning including organization, structuring, and transition
• Charitable planning
• Special needs planning
• Insurance and employee benefits planning
• Tax controversy litigation and dispute resolution
• A wide variety of creative wealth transfer and preservation techniques
• Estate, trust and fiduciary litigation
• Estate, trust and fiduciary mediations and Alternative Dispute Resolution

Our estate planning clients include the chief executives of some of the southeast's largest corporations, as well as numerous owners of closely-held businesses. In addition, we also regularly assist both individual and corporate fiduciaries with all aspects of estate and trust administration. We currently serve as the primary outside counsel for the institutional and personal trust department of Regions Bank. Several of our lawyers in this Practice Group also represent individual and corporate fiduciaries and beneficiaries in a variety of disputes as part of our Estate, Trust and Fiduciary Litigation Practice Group. Our role as counsel to wealth management companies also includes the drafting and maintenance of policies and procedures manuals; the drafting and review of marketing materials, both from a regulatory and technical standpoint; and strategic planning for corporate opportunity, corporate restructuring and overall risk management.

An important component of our practice has been the representation of closely-held and family businesses, including planning for both their current operation and their future ownership and management. Our business planning attorneys also assist clients with start-up businesses, both operational entities and passive entities, such as those holding real estate and other investment assets.

An overriding objective of our Estate, Trust & Business Planning Practice Group is to integrate personal and business planning in a way that achieves all of our client’s goals, including tax minimization, asset protection, wealth preservation, and family harmony.

The experience within our Estate, Trust & Business Planning Practice Group is extensive and includes a team of over twenty attorneys spanning our offices throughout the southeast.  Of this group, ten hold a Master of Laws in Taxation, four are C.P.A.s, and four are Fellows of The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, including one past President. Moreover, our estate planning practice is recognized as a Band 1 practice by Chambers and Partners in the High Net Worth Guide, with three of our members recognized as leading practitioners in the area of Private Wealth Law. In addition, five members of our group are consistently recognized by The Best Lawyers in America©, including being tapped as the Best Lawyers "Lawyer of the Year" in the area of Trusts and Estates for several years. Members of the group are also listed among Mid-South Super Lawyers year after year.

Related Practices

News

Insights

Presentations

• Cynthia Lamar-Hart co-presented "Ethical and Practical Challenges in Representing Diverse Clients" at the 58^th Annual Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning. (January 2024)
• Cynthia Lamar-Hart co-presented "Marital Deduction Planning" at the 57^th Annual Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning (January 2023)

• Members of Maynard Nexsen's Trusts, Estates, Fiduciaries and Family Business Practice Group presented statewide at the University of Alabama CLE on Asset Protection Trusts presented by Harris Anthony, the Corporate Transparency Act presented by Vince Schilleci, and Ethical Issues Arising in Estate Planning Representations presented by Cynthia Lamar-Hart. (December 2023)
• Jennifer McEwen and Cynthia Lamar-Hart of the Trusts, Estates, Fiduciaries and Family Business Practice Group presented to the Alabama State and Federal Tax Institute on marital deduction planning. (November 2023)
• Vincent Schilleci presented An Overview of the Corporate Transparency Act: New Federal Reporting Requirements All Trust Officers Must Know at the Tennessee Bankers Association Trust and Wealth Management Conference. (October 2023)
• Cynthia Lamar-Hart and Jessica Grover presented on Recent Developments in Alabama Trusts and Estates at the Alabama Bankers Association Trust Conference. (October 2023)
• Vincent Schilleci presented An Overview of the Corporate Transparency Act: New Federal Reporting Requirements All Trust Officers Must Know at the Alabama Bankers Association Trust Conference. (October 2023)