Estate Planning

Countless details must be addressed when handling an estate planning matter. You must consider how to best preserve your assets, who should receive the different parts of your estate, and other important issues while avoiding extra tax liability.

Contact an attorney who has dealt in small details for more than 25 years. Let The Gardner Law Firm, P.C., help you make the important legal decisions and draft your estate planning documents.

Attorney Bruce E. Gardner worked for the Internal Revenue Services as an Estate & Gift Tax Attorney and an IRS Tax Law Specialist where he was involved with the examination of estates, trusts and fiduciary income tax issues. With extensive experience in tax, Mr. Gardner has the knowledge to structure your estate planning documents and successfully avoid extra tax liability.

Our team will get to know you and your objectives. We will consider your long-term care and set up your affairs to minimize the need for probate process.

• Trusts — If an estate puts all the property in trust, probate can generally be avoided. Legally, the trust owns the property and continues to control its use after the death of the previous owner. The terms of the trust and the trustee will dictate how the property is managed. We can help draft many types of trusts including: revocable trusts, generation-skipping transfer trusts, special needs trusts, and dynasty trusts.
• Wills — A will can be used to address property accidentally, or intentionally, excluded from the trust. Pour-over provisions can ensure no property is forgotten. We can draft or review complex or simple wills.
• Advanced Medical Directives — These instructions cover the medical decisions you wish to be made if you become incapacitated, including a living will, which details the life-prolonging procedures you would like used or not used when you have a terminal condition.
• Financial Powers of Attorney — These documents can empower a party of your choosing to make financial decisions on your behalf.

If you are facing an estate planning issue, contact The Gardner Law Firm to schedule a free initial phone consultation. We represent individuals throughout the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.