Maryland Trusts & Estates Law Firm Home > Practice Areas > Maryland Legacy Planning
Maryland Legacy Planning
At Sellers Johnson Law, we provide Maryland Legacy Planning to assist families in Maryland to develop plans and strategies to benefit multiple generations through legacies, while helping families to avoid federal estate taxes and Maryland estate taxes.
What is Maryland Legacy Planning?
Through Legacy Planning, we work with you to examine not only your financial and non-financial goals and concerns typical through traditional Estate Planning; we also help you focus on the values and legacy that you wish to leave with your loved ones. With a customized Maryland Legacy Plan, we help you minimize the emotional impact on your family, retain valuable assets, and ensure that your legacy lives on through those you love and through future generations.A client wanting to protect his or her spouse may choose to establish a “bypass trust” or a “marital trust” (also known as a “QTIP”). On the other hand, parents wanting to protect their children and future generations may opt to form “generation-skipping” or “dynasty” trusts. These strategies, customized to each client’s particular circumstances and goals, protect assets against estate taxes that may be imposed upon future generations. They also preserve the inherited assets held in trust, not only from potential creditors, but also as separate property in the event that marital relationships run into difficulty. We also regularly assist clients in forming irrevocable life insurance trusts (ILITs), an option for sheltering life insurance proceeds from estate taxes and creditors.
Our Estate Planning techniques specific to Legacy Planning may include the formation of external entities such as Family Limited Partnerships (FLPs) or Limited Liability Companies (LLCs), charitable trusts, grantor retained annuity trusts (GRATs), grantor retained income trusts (GRITs), qualified personal residence trusts (QPRTs) and other Grantor Trust options, all of which seek to incorporate lifetime wealth transfers into the estate plan
Through Legacy Planning, you may designate that your personal values and heirlooms to stay within the family, through the generations. We also work with you to set up incentives and distributions that will ensure wise choices by family members so your legacy lives beyond your first generation
