Estate, Trust & Wealth Transfer

The attorneys and paralegals in Kaufman & Canoles’ Estate, Trust & Wealth Transfer Group are dedicated to ensuring our clients’ success through practical and experienced trust and estate planning and administration. We help families, professionals, executives, and other high-net-worth clients throughout Virginia preserve their wealth, property, and values, often working with two or more generations of the same family. We provide comprehensive business succession planning to owners and entrepreneurs, advising them on smooth transfers of ownership and control of their companies. We guide fiduciaries to comply with their responsibilities effectively and efficiently. And we work with all of our clients to prepare federal and state estate and gift tax returns and related estate and trust income tax returns and represent them on Internal Revenue Service audits on estate and gift tax items.

Created from the legacy and example of tax attorneys Charles Kaufman and Leroy Canoles, our group includes Certified Public Accountants and lawyers with advanced legal degrees in Taxation. We have a solid understanding of financial and tax matters, including the taxation of estates and trusts, generation-skipping taxes, and charitable giving. Four of our attorneys serve as Commissioners of Accounts, with particular insight into the Virginia probate and estate administration process. Our team includes experienced trial lawyers who practice estate litigation and attorneys with broad experience in business law and commercial practice.

We are local attorneys committed to our communities and intimately involved in their civic life and institutions.

Our Estate, Trust & Wealth Transfer professionals help our clients achieve their estate and wealth transfer objectives through personalized comprehensive plans. From simple wills to complex trusts and everything in-between, we offer innovative solutions for preserving and transferring wealth and property. We listen carefully to our clients to understand their challenges, concerns, and priorities and develop plans unique to their needs. We never propose ‘cookie-cutter’ documents or ideas: we’re not here just to produce documents or put numbers on a tax return but to ensure our clients accomplish their objectives.

We work to minimize taxes for our clients and their heirs, factoring in the short- and long-term implications of federal income, estate, gift, and generation-skipping taxes. In addition, we regularly advise our clients on the tax aspects of investments, coordinating with accountants, business and investment advisors, and insurance agents as appropriate.

Clients trust our professionals to help them understand their alternatives and guide their decisions. We provide them with a safe space to explore their options and work through their challenges and family dynamics. They look to us to engage with them as we plan and administer their estates, take advantage of the synergies created by their unique situations, and craft tailored and efficient plans that produce tangible benefits for them and their heirs.

Our clients are sophisticated and successful entrepreneurs, doctors, lawyers, business executives, and others who have built significant legacies for their families. For over a century, the attorneys and paralegals in Kaufman & Canoles’ Estate, Trust & Wealth Transfer group have helped them transfer that wealth to their heirs in the most practical and tax-efficient manner possible. They also rely on us to craft wealth transfer plans that transmit their values – hard work, discipline, and commitment – to their children, grandchildren, and future generations.

• General estate planning and drafting
• Estate administration, including estate tax returns and related audits (farm use, 6161 and 6166 payment of estate taxes options)
• Trust administration, including income tax returns
• Pension and IRA distributions and planning
• Closely held business entity formation, structure, and business succession (redemption and cross purchase agreements)
• Use of entities in estate and gift tax planning (valuations and appraisals, LLCs, Sub S, estate freezes)
• Real estate-based estate and gift planning
• Life insurance tax planning (life insurance trusts)
• Charitable related planning (gifting, private foundations, CLTs and CRTs, donor advised funds)
• Transfer planning (GRATs, QPRTs, SLATs)
• Generation skipping planning, including Dynasty Trusts
• Virginia Trusts and Estates procedure (probate, augmented estate)
• Trusts and estates-related litigation

• Credit Union

• K&C Client Alert – Corporate Transparency Act
• Evolve or Dissolve – How Charitable Organizations Address Change
• 2021 Retirement Plan Limitations
• Private Client Services Update – Relief for Student Debt Because the Government CARES (Act)
• Fiduciary Income Tax Update
• 2018 Tax Reform – Understanding the New Rules
• Private Client Services Update – 2018 Virginia Legislative Update
• Private Client Services Update – Estate Planning During Divorce
• Private Client Services Update – Decanting: Not Just for Wine Anymore – Virginia’s Adoption of the Uniform Trust Decanting Act
• Kaufman & Canoles Named to 2018 Edition of US News – Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms”
• Private Client Services Update – Portability Election Simplified
• Private Client Services Update – 2017 Virginia Legislative Update – Trusts, Estates, and Elder Law Changes
• Private Client Services Update – Trump is President and Republicans Control Both Chambers of Congress…
• Private Client Services Update – All is Not Lost When a Will is Lost – Redux
• Private Client Services Update – A Guide to Making Gifts for Parents and Grandparents
• Private Client Services Update – A Taxing Campaign: Clinton and Trump’s Individual, Estate, and Gift Tax Plans
• Private Client Services Update – IRS Proposed Regulations Could Impact Family Owned Entities
• Private Client Services Update – Switch It, Change It, Re-arrange It: The Modification and Termination of Charitable Trusts
• Private Client Services Update – Length of Marriage Now a Consideration for Surviving Spouse’s Rights Under Virginia Law
• Private Client Services Update – Hindsight is 20-20: Simple Estate Planning Steps We Wish Clients Would Take Before Death
• Private Client Services Update – But My Tax Expert Told Me****
• Private Client Services Update – All is Not Lost: Copy of Will Lost by Corporate Fiduciary Admitted to Probate
• Private Client Services Update – Estate Planning for Digital Assets and Digital Access: Bill Proposes to Adopt the Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act in Virginia
• Private Client Services Update – Transfer of Residence to Living Trusts: Insurance Issues
• The Newfound Flexibility of Virginia Trusts
• Private Client Services Update – Foreign Asset Disclosure, Financial Reporting and Tax Planning in a Complex World
• Private Client Services Update – 2014 Virginia Legislative Update – Trusts & Estates Law Changes
• Private Client Services Update – Estate Planning With Small Captive Insurance Companies
• Private Client Services Update – Trust Directors & Family-Business Succession: New Virginia Laws Warrant Careful Planning
• Private Client Services Update – LLCs – Why Don’t You Have One?
• Private Client Services Update – Long Term Care Insurance… Is it Here for the Long Haul?
• Private Client Services Update – Good News for Professional Service Providers
• Transfer on Death Deeds: Additional Probate Avoidance Planning
• Private Client Services Update – What Really is Inherited with a Limited Liability Company Interest?
• Private Client Services Update – Collaborative Divorce Process: Your Client Should Know This Alternative to Divorce Litigation
• Private Client Services Update – Virginia Has Authorized Asset Protection Trusts – But Do They Work?
• Private Client Services Update – Minimizing the Impact of the New 3.8% Medicare Surtax on Trust Income
• Private Client Services Update – 2013 Virginia Legislative Update – Trusts & Estates Law
• Private Client Services Update – U.S. Supreme Court Vindicates Virginia Supreme Court’s “Minority Position” On Federally Governed Death Benefits
• Private Client Services Update – Dotting Your I’s and Crossing Your T’s in Charitable Giving
• Private Client Services Update – Estate Planning Considerations for Non-Citizens
• Private Client Services Update – Alternatives for Waiver of Testamentary Trust Accountings
• Private Client Services Update – It’s Not Set in Stone: Reciprocal Wills Do Not Automatically Create an Irrevocable Estate Plan
• Private Client Services Update – The New Shift Away from Estate Tax Driven Planning in Private Client Legal Services
• Private Client Services Update – Taxation of Corporate-Owned Life Insurance: Traps for the Unwary
• Private Client Services Update – Stuff Happens
• Private Client Services Update – 2012 Virginia Legislative Update – Trusts & Estates Law
• Private Client Services Update – Interference with Inheritance: A Novel Legal Theory
• Private Client Services Update – Self-Settled Spendthrift Trusts
• Private Client Services Update – Decanting: A New Tool in the Trustee’s Arsenal
• Private Client Services Update – Protecting Your Most Precious Assets…Your Children
• Private Client Services Update – Adding Value as Trustee of a Life Insurance Trust
• Private Client Services Update – Use of Small Estate Affidavits to Clean Up After Probate Avoidance Trusts
• Private Client Services Update – IRS Has Two Smash Hits and Releases Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program III
• Private Client Services Update – Special Attention for Special Needs
• Private Client Services Update – Portability – Is It Time to Throw Traditional Estate Tax Planning Out the Window?
• Private Client Services Update – Issues with Real Estate in a Decedent’s Estate
• Private Client Services Update – Asset Protection-Domestic Asset Protection Trusts (DAPTs) Take a Hit
• Private Client Services Update – Benefit Corporations – A New Business Entity for the Socially Minded Entrepreneur
• Private Client Services Update – Capacity and Undue Influence Issues in Estate Planning – Incapacity for One Purpose Does Not Mean Incapacity for Another
• Private Client Services Update – Boilerplate Wills and Trusts Can Cause Unintended Consequences
• Private Client Services Update – Use of LLCs to Own Buy-Sell Insurance
• Private Client Services Update – Careful Planning by Corporate Fiduciary Avoids Liability for Breach of Fiduciary Duty
• Private Client Services Update – A Case Study for Use of §1031 Exchange in an Estate Planning Context
• Private Client Services Update – The FBAR and OVDI are not health foods . . . but you should know what they are and why the August 31, 2011 expiration date matters
• Private Client Services Update – 2011 Virginia Legislative Update – Trusts & Estates Law
• Private Client Services Update – Keeping Them Honest – Curbing Abuse by Agents Appointed in Powers of Attorney
• Private Client Services Update – Protecting Your Estate Planning Documents and Ensuring They are Accessible When Needed
• Private Client Services Update – Advance Medical Directives: One Caveat with the New Virginia Form
• Private Client Services Update – General Assembly Makes Changes to the Conservation Tax Credit Application Process
• Private Client Services Update – Lifetime Funding of Revocable Trusts for Couples: Avoiding Probate While Maintaining Creditor Protection
• Private Client Services Update – Succession Planning for Family Vacation Properties
• Private Client Services Update – Practical Considerations When Navigating the New Modified Carryover Basis Rules
• Private Client Services Update – Coping with Capacity Issues in Parents
• Private Client Services Update – Family Business Succession Planning (Beyond Taxes and Trusts)
• Private Client Services Update – Practical Preparations for Clients Prudently Planning for the Risk of Incapacity
• Private Client Services Update – What’s the Latest on Estate Taxation?
• Private Client Services Update – Incapacity Can Be Expensive in More Ways Than One
• Private Client Services Update – No Longer a Need to Rush to the Funeral Home
• Private Client Services Update – Revoking Irrevocable Trusts
• Private Client Services Update – The Special Opportunities for Disclaimers in 2010
• Private Client Services Update – It’s For the Kids: Creation of a Children’s Trust
• Private Client Services Update – 2010 Virginia Legislative Update
• Private Client Services Update – Virginia Adopts Uniform Power of Attorney Act
• Private Client Services Update – Some Charitable Giving Thoughts Under Tax Laws Past, Present and Future
• Private Client Services Update – Incapacitated Without a Power of Attorney . . . Where Do We Go From Here?
• Information for Kaufman & Canoles Clients in Light of Estate Tax Repeal
• Private Client Services Update – Asset Protection
• Private Client Services Update – No Federal Estate or GST Tax! Are These the Best of Tax Times or the Worst of Tax Times?
• Private Client Services Update – Uncertainty Surrounds Imminent Estate Tax Repeal
• Private Client Services Update – Three Roth Conversion Planning Opportunities
• Private Client Services Update – Virginia Commissioners of Accounts and the Updated Manual for Commissioners
• Private Client Services Update – The Roth Business Ownership Plan
• Private Client Services Update – Minority & Marketability Discounts & Asset Protection
• Private Client Services – 2009 Virginia Legislative Update
• Private Client Services Update – Important Reminder for “Small” Charitable Organizations
• Private Client Services – Minority & Marketability Discounts & Asset Protection