Ryley Carlock & Applewhite

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Estate Planning

The Estate Planning Law Practice advises clients on legal matters involving trusts, estates, wills, estate tax, gift tax, income tax relating to trusts and estates, charitable matters, and health care choices. Our Practice is focused on the transfer of personal wealth from one generation to succeeding generations by balancing the client’s needs concerning family issues as well as tax planning matters. Our attorneys are experienced in preparing both simple and complex estate plans and in doing so have developed expertise preparing and drafting wills, revocable trusts, irrevocable trusts for life insurance, charitable remainder trusts and other charitable tax-planning methods as well as organizing family businesses, private foundations, public charities, health care powers of attorney, general durable powers of attorney, and other planning techniques.

Our attorneys have developed substantial expertise in federal and state tax law and apply that knowledge to assist in planning needs. We have worked closely with trust officers, accountants, life insurance agents, and other professionals in dealing with complex post-mortem tax planning, as well as tax issues with the Internal Revenue Service involving estates and trusts.

We also provide expertise in probate and trust administration, post-mortem tax and succession planning, and retirement and employee benefit distribution planning.

Estate planning does not occur in a vacuum, and our attorneys are experienced in a wide variety of tangential issues, including entity selection and formation, shareholder agreements, business purchase agreements, deferred compensation, and family business structures. Attorneys with expertise in other practice areas, including real estate, corporate, and employee benefits law, often assist in estate planning issues arising in the course of creating a comprehensive estate or business plan, or probating an estate.