Preserve. Protect. Bestow.

With estate and gift planning, you can leave your legacy as you intended for your family, your business, and your charities.

You’ve worked hard to grow your wealth and build a comfortable life for you and your loved ones. Now you want to ensure that they– and future generations – are cared for after you’re gone. You also want to share your good fortune with others. To accomplish both, you need a tax-efficient estate and gifting plan.

Our advanced estate planning and wealth preservation strategies and solutions help you achieve your goals while mitigating your tax liabilities and those of your heirs. The recommendations from our estate preservation and planning advisors are tailored to your unique situation and reflect our expansive knowledge of estate, trust, gift and tax laws.

  • Wealth protection
  • Transfer strategies
  • Asset titling & beneficiary review
  • Charitable planning
  • Gift coordination

Estate planning and wealth management are some of the most priceless and enduring gifts you can give your loved ones—and yourself.

Comprehensive Wealth Preservation that Reflects Your Vision

Your legacy provides loved ones with the resources to pursue their passions and puts them on the path to financial well-being. But ensuring that these resources last is a challenge. We help you build a legacy that:

  • Preserves your wealth by mitigating state and federal estate and inheritance taxes
  • Passes wealth efficiently by creating trust structures that facilitate the transfer of assets from one generation to the next
  • Protects your family by incorporating provisions about your loved ones’ financial security and the care of any special-needs beneficiaries

Your life isn’t static, and your estate preservation plan shouldn’t be either. We monitor it regularly to make sure it keeps up with you, your family, and changing tax laws.

Paul Chmielewski

Partner

Estate Planning

Estate Planning Documents Everyone Should Have

August 8, 2022 — The basic message is that most people think estate planning is important but are often confused about how to get it done. So, what are the basic estate planning documents every adult should have?

The most important reason for estate planning is to give yourself and your loved ones peace of mind. Creating your estate plan gives you control. As I’ve often said to many clients, if you don’t have an estate plan, the state will write one for you, and its likely not what you would want. At Cerity Partners, we work with clients to create a full comprehensive financial and estate plan to protect both their wealth and well-being.

Susan Hartley-Moss, Partner

The Power of Planning

State and federal estate taxes can significantly erode a family’s wealth over time—more so than income taxes. This is especially true for individuals who live in high-tax states. We work with you and your attorney to create and execute a comprehensive wealth and estate plan for your unique needs and intentions.

1

Wealth Protection and Transfer Strategies

How you pass your wealth from one generation to the next directly impacts your taxes and the protections afforded in the event of a lawsuit, divorce, or bankruptcy. Dynasty Trusts and Private Trust Companies are just two ways we help address these concerns and sustain the viability of your estate.

2

Review of Wills, Trusts and Other Estate Planning Documents

The first step to enhancing your estate plan is understanding where you’re at today. Reviewing your existing documents helps us ensure that all your assets are addressed, including investments, real estate, jewelry, and artwork, and identify opportunities for improvement. Once identified, we work with you and your attorney to close any gaps so you can feel confident your legacy and loved ones are protected.

3

Review of Beneficiaries and Titling of Assets

The type of asset and how it is owned impacts who receives your property after your death. For example, IRA accounts automatically pass to your beneficiaries. Any property owned jointly with rights of survivorship passes to the other owner. Our review helps ensure your assets are titled according to your intentions and that your beneficiary information is up to date.

4

Coordination of Estate Plan with Life Insurance Coverage

Life insurance is more liquid than many assets you may own, making the proceeds a good source for paying estate taxes and other liabilities while leaving the rest of your estate intact. We help you determine the level and type of life insurance that’s right for you.

5

Charitable Planning and Gift Coordination

Should you make your gift now or in the future? Should you bundle your gifts together in one year? Does a Donor Advised Fund make sense for you? Should you make a monetary gift or donate investments or real property? Our estate planning and financial advisors answer these questions and more to help you maximize the value of your gifts while minimizing taxes.

6

Estate Succession Planning

If you’re a business owner, the future of your company is an essential part of any estate planning conversation. Do you want to transfer ownership to family members? Do you plan to sell the business and allocate the proceeds amongst loved ones? Whatever your vision, we help you create a comprehensive exit strategy that prepares you, your business, and your family for the transition.

7

Next-Gen Education

Loved ones who understand the reasoning behind the provisions in an estate plan are more likely to embrace the plan and carry it forward. We offer educational materials that focus on the rising generation to help you have this important conversation.

Explore Our Offerings for Individuals and Families

Joseph Matus

Principal

Economic and Market Outlooks

What’s On Our Minds This Week

Concerns over long-term budget deficits have led to credit rating downgrades and higher interest rates—yet inflation expectations remain stable and investor demand for Treasurys appears more resilient than widely assumed.

Paul Chmielewski

Partner

Estate Planning

Promissory Notes: A Way to Lock In Estate Tax Exemption Amounts

Gift and estate tax exemption amounts are may sunset at the end of 2025. For those wary of losing control over significant traditional assets, promissory notes, especially in conjunction with irrevocable grantor trusts, present a potential solution to lock in current exemption amounts.

Ryan Eversole

Principal

Individuals and Families

Are Financial Advisory Fees Tax Deductible?

Before 2018, you could partly or fully deduct investment advisory fees on your federal income tax return. When the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was passed, however, the miscellaneous itemized deduction for investment fees and expenses vanished. This deduction seldom mattered for taxpayers in the highest brackets, as they could only deduct miscellaneous items on […]

Ian Bai and Sean Moore

Individuals and Families

Understanding Your Medicare Options

Soon-to-be retirees about to turn 65 have an important choice to make regarding their health insurance. Specifically, do you go with traditional, public-sector Medicare, or do you combine that approach with a privately-administered Medicare “Advantage” plan?

Zach Woodward

Principal

Incentive Stock Options

The Taxation of Restricted Stock Units

Restricted stock units (RSUs) are a special form of employee compensation, taxed uniquely. Upon vesting, they're taxed at the federal level, and later treated as normal shares with tax implications during sale.

Mimi Drake and EmJay Williams

Family Office

Engaging the Next Generation on Family Wealth 

Teaching young adult children about wealth can be a challenge. Although circumstances may vary, most families want to impart on their children a solid understanding of their wealth, creating opportunities for younger generations to continue growing the family’s resources.

Mariella Foley

Partner

Individuals and Families

Dividing Retirement Assets in Divorce With a Qualified Domestic Relations Order

Retirement assets are an important issue in any divorce proceeding. After the marital home, retirement assets often represent the largest category of marital assets to be divided in a divorce settlement. These assets can include 401(k)s, 403(b)s, IRAs and pension benefits provided by an employer’s defined benefit plan. Divorcing spouses will often seek to divide […]

Brett Dearing

Partner

Corporations

How to Bring Your Business Value Up Before You Sell

Preparedness planning is an essential tool for any owner interested in selling their business for maximum value. It provides a framework for owners to take control of their exit and it also minimizes perceived risk by a potential buyer that may create a discounted value at sale.

Frederic Behrens

Partner

Cross-Border Planning

Investing as an American Expat

Increasingly, American citizens are moving overseas to advance their careers, to retire abroad or for family reasons. Living in another country is exciting but brings forth many new challenges. This includes adapting not only to a new culture but also a new financial, tax and legal system. Just like back home, advice from professionals is […]

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Investing is a long-term commitment to your financial well-being. It’s about growing and safeguarding your wealth. Our disciplined, goal-oriented approach ensures your portfolio remains resilient in the face of market and economic fluctuations.

Our sophisticated estate and wealth transfer strategies help you preserve your legacy while minimizing tax burdens. Every recommendation is tailored to your specific needs, leveraging our extensive knowledge of estate, trust, gift, and tax regulations.

Successfully navigating the financial challenges that come with wealth necessitates planning, relevant advice, and a financial advisor who’s always in your corner. Cerity Partners provides all three.

Safeguard the financial security you and your loved ones have built. We assess your current risk exposure and develop customized strategies designed to protect the most vulnerable areas of your financial life.

We design and implement tax optimization strategies, including the creation of detailed tax projections and the preparation of personal, trust, and business tax returns.

Our family office services free you to focus on what matters most, providing a coordinated team of specialists dedicated to preserving, growing, and protecting your family's prosperity.

Divorce marks the end of marriage but also the start of your new life. We can help you navigate the financial challenges of divorce and embrace the opportunities for building a thriving, secure future.

We work with owners of privately held businesses to help them create and execute transition plans that provide a seamless and successful exit for themselves, their families, and other stakeholders.

Just because your professional life is international doesn’t mean your financial life has to be complicated. Cerity Partners has extensive knowledge of U.S. and global tax laws and regulations, and we will work with you to preserve and grow your wealth here and abroad.