B. Martin Davis III, A Law Corporation provides individualized and personal legal assistance in the following practice areas:
Estate Planning
Our firm can help individuals, families and businesses plan for the future. Though nobody likes thinking about death and taxes, we strive to make estate planning a positive experience. Our goal is to create and implement personalized estate plans that meet the unique needs of each client, taking into account the client’s goals, background, asset mix, wealth and family dynamics. When developing estate plans, we listen to our clients and blend our legal knowledge with their personal goals to create plans that minimize estate taxes and provide financial flexibility.
We offer over 30 years experience drafting and implementing estate planning tools including:
- Living trusts
- Wills
- Powers of Attorney for Finances
- Advance Health Care Directives
- Life Insurance Trusts
- Generation-skipping Trusts
- Qualified Personal Residence Trusts
- Charitable Remainder Trusts
- Grantor Retained Annuity and Unitrusts
- Private Annuities
- Family Limited Partnerships
- Co-ownership Agreements
- Family Limited Liability Companies
- Premarital, Prenuptial and Co-habitation Agreements
Trust Administration
Trusts require administration. Many of the important tax benefits for the trust’s beneficiaries may be lost or compromised if the necessary steps are not taken within nine months of death. Our primary goal is to protect the surviving family members and other beneficiaries and ensure that they understand their duties as well as their interest in the estate. We guide the family members, trustee, executor or administrator through the California trust administration process, protecting the tax and other benefits of the trust. For large estates, careful consideration is given not only to the estate taxes, but also to the income taxes, generation-skipping transfer taxes and property taxes.
Probate Administration
Trusts generally skip the probate process, which is why many clients - even those with very modest estates - choose to use them. Trusts are handled privately by individuals or corporate trustees chosen by the client in advance. In California, a will generally has no effect unless it is "probated." Under California Court supervision, the probate process is especially time-consuming and expensive. Even the simplest probates may take nine months or more to complete and cost thousands of dollars in attorney’s fees. When a probate cannot be avoided, we help families and successors navigate through the probate process as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible. We prepare and file the necessary paperwork, appear in court, and provide tax and distribution advice.
Business Succession Planning
Many of our clients are business owners who have strong commitments to their employees and families. They understand that their business may provide financial security for successive generations. We work with business owners to devise a plan that will allow their business to survive them, including:
- Compensation plans that keep key employees
- Re-capitalization plans that secure income for the retiring business owner
- Shareholder agreements that keep control in the family
- Various trusts that allow minors and other family members to receive economic benefit of the business without management involvement or responsibility
Business Formations, Acquisitions, Maintenance and Transactions
Most business dealings involve income tax issues. We are specialists in forming Corporations (S or C), Limited Liability Companies, General Partnerships, Limited Partnerships, Sole Proprietorships and other entities and dealing with the income tax and business issues involved. We explain the advantages and disadvantages of all types of business entities in clear simple terms so that you can make informed decisions on the type of entity that best serves you and protects your business.
We also represent businesses as outside general counsel to provide them ongoing advice regarding their operations and maintenance of their legal entity in order to maximize the liability protection afforded by most of these entities.
Our business work also includes the purchase or sale of businesses, both of which involve many tax and liability issues, determination of appropriate type of entity, redemption and cross purchase buy-sell arrangement and consulting, employment and independent contractor agreements.
When it comes time to sell your business, we can draft the necessary documents and advise you regarding the risks and opportunities for the seller or the buyer.
Real Estate Transactions
Like most financial transactions, transactions in real estate involve income tax issues. Thus, we consult regarding purchases and sales of real estate from both a legal point of view and the income taxes likely to be involved. We also represent landlords and tenants in the negotiation and drafting or renewal of leases. Our real estate transaction work includes purchases and sales agreements and loans secured by real estate and leases.
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