With young and seasoned lawyers alike among our team of estate attorneys, Ferguson Case Orr Paterson offers the unique continuity of representation our clients require over the course of their lives. As your family changes, our firm will continue to be here, meaning that we will be able to handle your successors’ needs just as well as we have handled yours.

Our estate planning and trusts group counsels clients on lifetime planning, testamentary wealth transfers, charitable giving, business succession planning and all other aspects of estate planning, including:

  • Evaluating each client’s objectives, family and economic situations.
  • Advising clients about alternative methods of holding title, use of revocable living trusts, advantages and disadvantages of joint tenancy, proper designation of beneficiaries for life insurance and retirement plans and appropriate business entities to further estate plans.
  • Preparing documentation needed to implement estate plans, including wills, revocable living trusts and powers of attorney for property management and health care.
  • Preparing sophisticated estate planning instruments such as grantor retained annuity trusts (“GRATs”), qualified personal residence trusts (“QPRTs”), charitable lead trusts and charitable remainder trusts (“CLTs” and “CRTs”), irrevocable life insurance trusts (“ILITs”) and special needs trusts.
  • Advising and assisting with post-death trust administration, including trust divisions and trust allocation.
  • Charitable planning including direct or indirect contributions during lifetime, as well as incorporating charitable bequests in wills or trusts.
  • Counseling clients on the effective methods of transferring business interests to the next generation, including designing family limited partnerships and limited liability companies, and utilizing buy-sell agreements.
  • Preparing and filing petitions for probate.
  • Handling trust administration, controversy and litigation.
  • Representing heirs, beneficiaries and fiduciaries.