Estate Planning & Probate

Throughout the state of Kansas, the attorneys of Adams Jones Law Firm serve individuals, businesses and fiduciaries in a wide range of practice areas. Understanding our clients’ goals and objectives allows us to apply our knowledge and experience to help clients develop plans and make hard decisions about the preservation and transfer of property and investments, and to develop ways to minimize the tax impact of those decisions.

Examples of estate areas in which we provide legal services to individuals, businesses, and fiduciaries are:

Business Succession Planning. Help clients plan the transfer of businesses to the next generation of ownership and management in the event of disability, retirement, or death of the owners or key employees. Advise clients on the income and estate tax implications of various transition strategies, working with other professionals to reach the right solutions.

Charitable Gifting, Charitable Trusts, and Private Foundations. Help families achieve charitable objectives and tax benefits by forming private foundations and charitable remainder and lead trusts. Assist clients in forming, qualifying, and maintaining Section 501(c)(3) and other tax-exempt organizations.

Estate Planning and Administration. Provide extensive estate planning, administration services and counseling for estates of all sizes and complexity to achieve individual transfer objectives and minimize tax burdens through exercising a rare skill - listening to the client. Help clients evaluate and implement planning options including wills, will substitutes, revocable and irrevocable trusts, and transfer-on-death ownership. Advise and assist families and fiduciaries in postmortem tax-reduction strategies including qualified disclaimers, tax elections, and elections under state laws. Advise fiduciaries of all types, including executors, administrators, and trustees in matters involving estate and probate administration. Represent heirs and beneficiaries in will contests, estate disputes, and family settlement agreements.

Estate and Trust Litigation. Represent clients in both routine and complex estate and trust disputes and controversies. The firm’s goal is to resolve disputes through negotiations and family settlement agreements whenever possible, and to the extent necessary, to represent clients in court proceedings to resolve disputes.

Gifting. Design and implement family and charitable gifting plans, including advice regarding the tax implications.

Guardianships and Conservatorships. Represent individuals in guardianship and conservatorship proceedings. Assist guardians and conservators in preparing court documents for annual accountings and reports to the court.

Life Insurance Planning. Advise businesses and individuals regarding the ownership and beneficiary designations of life insurance policies. Counsel clients on the creation, funding, and taxation of buy-sell agreements and life insurance trusts.

Medicaid and Disability Planning. Advise clients on preserving eligibility for Medicaid benefits. Develop strategies for managing and preserving assets in the event of disability. Prepare special and supplemental needs trusts and spendthrift trusts.

Powers of Attorney. Prepare powers of attorney for both general and special purposes, financial matters, and health care decisions.

Retirement Plans. Advise clients on the tax impact of retirement plan distributions and options for payout and beneficiary designations. Work with clients to minimize the income and estate tax on retirement plan benefits.

Tax Controversies and Litigation. Represent clients before the Internal Revenue Service (estate and gift tax issues) and before the Kansas Board of Tax Appeals, and federal and state courts at both the trial and appellate levels.

Tax Planning and Return Preparation. Provide representation, planning, and advice for a broad range of federal and state tax matters. These services include individual and business taxation, gift and estate taxes, and generation-skipping transfer taxes. Prepare estate and gift tax returns for our clients.

Trusts and Administration. Develop trusts to accomplish the far-ranging objectives of clients and their families. These objectives include both tax and non-tax concerns. Counsel clients regarding asset protection, principal and income distributions, allocations among beneficiaries, selection of fiduciaries, and compliance with trust law and with state and federal tax laws. Assist fiduciaries with all aspects of trust administration.