Tax, Trust and Estate Department

The law of trusts and estates has been an integral and active practice area of Schenck, Price, Smith & King since the establishment of the firm in 1912. General tax law has had an important role for the firm for decades.

Today, the Tax, Trust and Estate Department assists individual clients in planning for and executing the orderly transition and disposition of their assets during their lifetime and upon the death of the individual at the least tax cost to the family and beneficiaries. The department services corporate executives, individual employees, self-employed individuals, owners of closely-held businesses, professionals, retired individuals, and their families on a wide range of estate planning and administration matters. The department also works with the trust departments of virtually all the major institutions who have a presence in the area and has a long-standing relationship with most of these institutions.

In addition, the department provides comprehensive tax advice to individual and business clients.

The department currently consists of approximately fifteen attorneys whose practices are devoted primarily to this complex area. The department's attorneys are supported by three full-time paralegals.

Most attorneys in the department are at the partner level, and some of them draw upon decades of experience in providing estate and tax counseling to clients. Several members of the department have Masters of Law (LL.M.) degrees in taxation and one is a fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel.

Members of the department regularly write articles for various legal and other publications and speak at seminars and lectures for professional, bar, educational, charitable, fraternal and civic groups on a variety of estate planning, estate administration, elder law, disability planning, and tax topics.

Among the department's areas of practice are the following:

• Estate Planning
• Estate Administration
• Elder Law/Disability Planning
• Individual Tax Planning
• Business Tax Planning
• Pensions
• Tax Litigation