Advanced Planning Solutions—Integrated Strategy for Complex Client Needs

Clients spend a lifetime building wealth, while estate planning ensures it transitions efficiently, intentionally, and in line with their values. We help advisors protect legacies, ease tax burdens, and minimize future conflict with structures that promote clarity and control.

Strategies include:

• Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts (ILITs): Remove life insurance from the taxable estate while providing tax-free liquidity to beneficiaries.
• Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts (GRATs): Shift appreciating assets out of the estate while retaining annuity payments during the grantor’s lifetime.
• Spousal Lifetime Access Trusts (SLATs): Offer long-term planning benefits while providing indirect access to assets through a spouse.
• Estate Equalization Strategies: Use life insurance or tailored bequests to provide balance when assets are liquid or concentrated.
• Dynasty & Incentive Trusts: Support future generations with structured distributions and values-based guidance.

Business owners face unique planning challenges—from retaining key people to creating liquidity without disrupting operations. We help structure plans that preserve business value, support family goals, and ensure smooth transitions.

Strategies include:

• Executive Bonus Buyouts (Section 162): Utilize life insurance structures to attract and retain top talent while providing owners with potential cost recovery opportunities.
• Deferred Compensation Plans & SERPs: Create non-qualified benefits tailored to executive goals and retirement timelines.
• Split-Dollar Life Insurance: Provide tax-efficient wealth transfer, income protection, and estate planning advantages.

Tax strategy is foundational to wealth preservation. We work with advisors to design and coordinate solutions that reduce tax liability across income, capital gains, gift, and estate scenarios—while unlocking long-term flexibility and control.

Strategies include:

• Lifetime Gifting Programs: Leverage annual exclusions and valuation discounts to transfer wealth strategically during a client’s lifetime.
• Charitable Vehicles: Align tax benefits with philanthropic intent using CRTs, CLTs, DAFs, and foundations.
• Private Placement Life Insurance (PPLI): Enable tax-deferred investment growth for high-net-worth clients using customized insurance structures.
• CPA & Estate Attorney Coordination: Collaborate across disciplines to ensure each element of the plan works in harmony.

For clients who want to give back, charitable planning creates a way to support meaningful causes while enhancing their overall wealth plan. We help advisors integrate giving into the broader strategy, ensuring it’s efficient, structured, and values-aligned.

Strategies include:

• Charitable Remainder & Lead Trusts (CRTs & CLTs): Create legacy gifts while reducing current income or estate taxes.
• Life Insurance for Philanthropy & Wealth Replacement: Maximize charitable impact while preserving family inheritances.
• Donor-Advised Funds & Foundations: Flexible structures that empower clients to give strategically over time.

Planning for a loved one with special needs requires a delicate balance—providing care and resources while maintaining eligibility for government benefits. We help build durable plans that secure long-term support without compromising the rest of the family’s financial future.

Strategies include:

• Special Needs Trusts: Supplement public benefits with structured support, without jeopardizing eligibility.
• Insurance Funding for Lifelong Support: Ensure sustainable care with guaranteed funding across generations.
• Multi-Beneficiary Trusts: Balance financial planning across multiple heirs with equitable treatment and flexibility.

Blended families present unique planning challenges, requiring clarity, sensitivity, and foresight. We help structure solutions that reflect client intent, prevent conflict, and ensure every family member is considered.

Strategies include:

• Qualified Terminable Interest Property (QTIP) Trusts: Provide income to a surviving spouse while preserving principal for children from prior relationships.
• ILITs for Distinct Legacies: Create separate, tax-efficient legacies using life insurance.
• Pre & Post-Marital Planning: Align legal protections with client values and long-term objectives.

You remain the advisor.

Our goal is to provide the structure and execution that aligns with your clients’ vision, helping them plan for more than just portfolios. Every decision we make is aimed at bringing them closer to the life they’ve envisioned.

You can tap into our committee’s expertise as a resource, or lean into our platform analytics—the same tools our team uses to build portfolios internally. Our deep knowledge in fixed income, equities, and alternatives also allows us to help advisors create niche SMAs and custom portfolios tailored to real-world needs like tax efficiency, diversification of concentrated positions, and unwind scenarios.

When you free up time, you create more capacity to grow, without compromising quality.