Estate Planning Services
Preserving your family’s wealth for future generations.
Whether you’re planning the parameters of your future medical care or establishing support for loved ones upon your death, Santerre & Vande Krol, Ltd. can help with all aspects of your estate plan, including:
Advance directives (living wills)
Estate tax issues
Choosing the appropriate executor
Living trusts
Wills drafting
Estate planning documents are extremely flexible and can be designed to fit your unique needs. Santerre & Vande Krol, Ltd. works closely with you to determine your goals and create precise instruments to carry out your intentions.
Estate, Gift, and Income Tax Planning Lawyers in Arizona
Our Scottsdale attorneys work to protect your money.
Santerre & Vande Krol, Ltd. is focused on income tax, estate tax, gift tax, and charitable planning.
We represent clients in structuring business transactions, as well as planning their charitable giving, income, and estate tax matters. Individual and business clients alike rely on resourceful and responsive attorneys to effectively minimize the impact of income taxes, gift taxes, estate taxes, and generation-skipping transfer taxes for both themselves and their heirs. Through the strategic use of cutting-edge and traditional income and asset transfer devices, we work to help you take full advantage of all applicable tax credits, deductions, exemptions, and elections, so you can transfer your wealth with maximum benefit for your business, your family, and your philanthropic beneficiaries.
Arizona Family Wealth Transfer Attorneys
Our Scottsdale lawyers help you plan your estate.
Estate planning often stops short by describing how assets will transfer to the next generation but do not prepare the next generation for the responsibilities that come with acquired wealth. This can result in poorly prepared inheritors and disputes over assets or the future of a family business. It is important that those who will be the recipients of assets are educated and ready to take on new roles and responsibilities as the family-dynamic shifts due to life changes.
Santerre & Vande Krol, Ltd. assists clients in creating comprehensive wealth transfer strategies, with careful thought given to each family's individual situation. This ensures that assets are managed effectively during one's lifetime, as well as protects the financial interest of the family and loved ones. We can also assist in reviewing the current approach to wealth transfer to see if any changes or adjustments need to be made.
Probate and Estate Administration
Arizona attorneys provide advice and representation for personal representatives and administrators.
If you have recently lost a loved one, you've no doubt heard the word probate used in relation to your loved one's estate. Probate can refer to the court process of validating a will so a personal representative can implement the decedent's wishes or the oversight the court provides for an estate administrator who settles an intestate estate. Whether a will exists or not, the process of settling an estate can be complex, so the person who assumes those duties needs the advice of a knowledgeable probate lawyer. At Santerre & Vande Krol, Ltd., our attorneys have extensive experience advising clients who act as personal representatives and administrators. Personal representatives and administrators need sound guidance since the law holds them personally liable for losses in the value of estate assets due to errors or misconduct. We can guide you through the complex process quickly and efficiently, so you maximize the value of the estate for your loved one's heirs.
Trust Administration
Arizona’s lawyers provide legal services to clients managing trusts.
Once a grantor establishes a trust, either he or a trustworthy fiduciary must act as trustee for the trust assets. When the grantor dies, a trustee named in the trust documents must act as administrator, seeing to necessary tasks according to state law and the terms of the trust. Trust administration requires careful attention to each detail of the grantor's wishes, as well as sound legal advice to avoid missteps for which a trustee can be held personally liable. Attorneys at Santerre & Vande Krol, Ltd. provide reliable legal guidance to trust administrators. We have ample experience in a wide variety of trusts, including:
Credit Shelter Trusts (CST)
Incentive Trusts
Living Trusts
Generation-Skipping Trusts
Qualified Terminable Interest Property (QTIP) Trusts
Qualified Personal Residence Trusts (QPRT)
Charitable Remainder Trusts
Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts
Wills Probate
Santerre & Vande Krol, Ltd. provides a full range of services for wills: drafting, review, amendment, revocation, execution, and probate. We provide reliable guidance for testators and personal representatives. Our experience in the probate court enables us to provide practical advice for testators from all walks of life. Similarly, our work in the formation of wills gives us keen insight into how personal representatives should interpret various aspects of a will that may initially seem unclear. Whether you are a testator formulating an estate plan or a personal representative implementing a decedent's wishes, Santerre & Vande Krol, Ltd. can simplify many complex aspects of the tasks before you. We offer pertinent and personal legal advice to obtain the results you need in a timely manner with the least stress possible.
Wills and Trusts
Wills and trusts are the principal legal instruments attorneys use to help clients transfer assets to their heirs. The experienced attorneys at Santerre & Vande Krol, Ltd. can advise you on the best means for you to address your legacy concerns, including the transfer of financial and real property assets, estate tax avoidance, and support for philanthropic causes. We draft wills that reflect your desires and establish various types of trusts that serve your estate planning needs.
Business Succession Planning
Do you own a business that is ready for a change at the top? At Santerre & Vande Krol, Ltd., we work with business owners to create a plan of action to secure their business in the event of a transition in ownership or control. Our skilled attorneys help eliminate confusion and reduce financial complications as stakeholder struggle with this sensitive subject. Whether you are a large corporation or a small, family-owned business, our attorneys provide solutions for handing the reins over to the next generation of leadership.
Business Formation
Santerre & Vande Krol, Ltd. is committed to the success and prosperity of your business. To meet your goals, we are dedicated to close collaboration with you so we can provide the most practical and appropriate advice given your specific business goals. By understanding your expectations and financial capabilities, we can better address your needs, including what entity and tax structures to select and how best to limit your personal liability.
Closely Held Businesses
Closely-held businesses face many issues in their operations. Each day, new and different challenges appear around every corner. Strategic planning to address details such as taxes, capital needs, and growth is critical in controlling the direction of your business. The ability to face these challenges and issues with innovative and effective solutions can make the difference between success and failure. At Santerre & Vande Krol, Ltd., we are committed to developing partnerships with our clients for the purpose of helping them succeed. Our vast experience with closely held businesses provides us with knowledge and understanding of the issues you face.
Commercial Real Estate Transactions
The attorneys at Santerre & Vande Krol, Ltd. handle all aspects of commercial real estate transactions. We provide you with effective, skillful service in writing, negotiating, and reviewing contracts, leases, and sales documents. Our firm has experience assisting businesses with all types of contracts and agreements. We draw upon our knowledge of Arizona real estate law, land use law, and contract law to find optimal solutions for our clients.
Business & Corporate Law
The attorneys of Santerre & Vande Krol have significant experience in corporations, partnerships, and limited liability companies, including the planning and structuring of new business and investment entities, negotiation of commercial transactions involving the sale and purchase of businesses, assets, corporate stock, and limited liability company interests, and corporate transactions such as mergers, reorganizations, and liquidations.
Qualified Retirement Plans and Employee Benefits
Santerre & Vande Krol enjoys a substantial practice in the field of qualified retirement plans and in assisting businesses and professionals in the adoption, implementation, and maintenance of their pension and profit-sharing plans, 401(k) plans, and employee stock ownership plans.
Tax Planning
Since its formation, Santerre & Vande Krol, Ltd. has developed a well-respected reputation in the business and professional community for providing tax planning services to our clients in connection with incorporations and other business formations, business acquisitions, and sales, limited liability company and partnership matters and corporate liquidations and reorganizations.
We also provide tax planning services to individual clients in matters such as real estate transactions and investments, charitable giving, retirement benefits, wealth preservation, and estate planning.
Alcoholic Beverage Law & Liquor Licensing Law
Santerre & Vande Krol, Ltd. assists clients in obtaining local, state, and federal licensing and regulation for all levels of the alcoholic beverage industry, including handling all aspects of probate transfers of licenses. We prepare the documents which are necessary to obtain all classes of liquor licenses and explain what the Arizona Department of Liquor License and Control ("Department") requires of licensees to remain in compliance after receiving a license. We defend clients at administrative hearings and violation and revocation proceedings. If an applicant has been denied a license by the Department, we will prepare the client's appeal for reconsideration of the application. We prepare the necessary forms and documents required to move a liquor license from one premise to another premise or to transfer an existing license to a buyer where the buyer has purchased the assets of an ongoing business.