The Tax Law Office of David W. Klasing as your Estate Planning Firm 
David W. Klasing has a unique set of credentials and experience that very few estate-planning professional can match. Dave is an Attorney, Certified Public Accountant and holds a Master’s Degree in Taxation. He focused his education in the estate and gift tax arena by studying California Wills, Community Property, Trusts & Estates in law school and specializing in Income, Estate and Gift Taxation in his Master’s Degree in Taxation. He is able to take all of his education and vast experience and leverage it so that he is able to blend legal, accounting, financial and tax expertise into a powerful skillset to meet your estate planning objectives.
Dave is a professional who not only knows the various estate planning techniques, but also intimately understands their associated estate and income tax consequences. Additionally, even with effective estate planning in place, disputes may arise between heirs or creditors, subsequent to a client’s death. Dave is well qualified to handle potential trust, estate, and tax related litigation in order to carry out your estate planning objectives.
Estate Planning Defined
Estate planning is the process of planning for either the death or incapacity of an individual client, married couple or domestic partners. It involves the legal decisions made in the present that will control the disposition of a client’s assets or person in the event of their death or incapacitation at some point in the hopefully distant future.
David W. Klasing strives to preserve both the assets and family relationships of his clients. He strives to find an optimal balancing between income and estate tax considerations and the client’s personal considerations when developing an estate plan. Examples of potential personal considerations include providing for the guardianship of minor children, care for a surviving spouse, disposition of illiquid business assets, and health care directives in the event of a client’s incapacitation. Examples of estate and income tax considerations include the potential for more than half of a decedent’s estate being remitted to the federal and state governments where the estate and final income tax burdens are not effectively planned for rather than being passed on to the Client’s heirs and loved ones.
The Importance of Estate Planning
When an individual with a sufficiently large estate passes away without a proper plan for the administration of their estate in place, a number of problems routinely arise. Issues concerning the decedent’s instructions regarding the division of their property, potentially excessive estate taxes, and excessive probate costs can all be mitigated where a proper estate plan is put in place by a qualified estate-planning attorney in advance of the client’s death. Effective estate planning ensures a client of an orderly passing of their estate at their death, as well as providing assurance that assets and personal affairs will be handled in accordance with the client’s wishes.
Objectives an effective estate plan should achieve
- Minimizing or eliminating State and Federal estate and income taxes
- Minimize the problems and expenses of probate
- Reducing or eliminating capital gains taxes on property transferred at death
- Avoiding potential family conflicts in the event it is necessary to appoint a guardian for a client’s minor children or where a conservator needs to be appointed to manage a client’s affairs
- Avoiding leaving surviving children "too much to soon” through the use of trusts
- Ensuring the decedent’s property goes to the desired beneficiaries
- Provide for adequate liquidity to cover taxes and other expenses at death without the necessity of forced sale of assets
- Assuring that in the event of a client’s incapacity, a third party is arranged in advance to act on their behalf
- Planning for both a client’s lifetime and at-death gifting objectives including gifts to family members and charitable organizations
- Provide the surviving spouse the appropriate amount of responsibility and flexibility in management of the decedent’s portion of the estate
Estate Planning Services Offered
- Planning and drafting wills
- Drafting revocable / irrevocable trusts
- Drafting durable powers of attorney & directives to physicians
- Creating Family Limited Partnerships
- Integration of retirement plans into the estate plan
- Estate tax planning
- Business succession planning
- Probating of wills and estates
- Independent estate administration
- Heirship determinations
- Creating Special Needs Trusts
- Trust administration
- Guardianship / Conservatorship Services
- Asset Splits Between Sub-Trusts
- Preparation of Documents to Transfer Title to Assets
- Preparation of US and State Estate and Inheritance Tax Returns
- Preparation of Decedent's Final Return
- Preparation of Fiduciary (Trust & Estate) Income Tax Returns
- Preparation of Required Notification to Heirs and Beneficiaries
- California Probate Code Initial Notification Requirements
- Final Accounting to Beneficiaries and Assistance with Distributions
- Drafting Living Trusts
- Creating Family Limited Partnerships
- Creating IDGT’s (Intentionally Defective Grantor Trusts)
- Drafting SCIN’s (Self Canceling Installment Notes)
- Utilizing Tax-Exempt Organizations & Foundations in the estate planning process
- Private Foundation Compliance Administration and Tax Returns
- Preparing Probate Court-Approved Accounting Format for Estates and Conservatorships
- Preparing Family Limited Partnership and Limited Liability Company Tax Returns
- Charitable Gift Planning
- Retirement Planning, including Roth Conversion Analysis
- Preparing separate property marital agreements
- Asset Protection
- Long Term Care Planning
- Medicaid Asset Protection Planning
- Preparing Qualified Personal Residence trusts (known as a "QPRT")
- Creating generation-skipping trusts and family dynasty trusts
- Preparing life insurance trusts (known as an "ILIT")
Contact my office online or call 714-908-44467 or toll free 866-974-8429 to schedule a free half hour consultation to discuss your Estate Planning issues and how I can be of assistance. When you call, you will speak directly to me, not a paralegal or assistant, to get the experienced answers you need.