Contact: Richard Kinyon or Patrick McCabe
Morrison & Foerster has a large, innovative practice representing individuals and fiduciaries in all aspects of estate planning
and trust and estate administration as well as litigation. The firm has a broad base of experience and serves a wide range
of individuals and families (including executives of public corporations and owners of closely-held businesses) as well as
institutional clients. Our attorneys design estate plans ranging from simple to complex, always with an eye toward tax efficiency.
With respect to trust and estate administration, the firm is experienced in all issues relating to property transfers, including
estate, income, and property tax minimization and compliance, probate, and related litigation.
In addition, the group has extensive experience in the following specialized areas:
- "Estate Freeze" techniques such as Qualified Personal Residence Trusts (QPRTs) and installment sales to "intentionally defective"
irrevocable grantor trusts;
- Minority and fractional–interest discounts for gift and estate tax purposes generated through use of family limited partnerships,
limited liability companies, and tenancies-in-common;
- Non–qualified executive compensation plans;
- Business succession planning;
- International estate planning;
- Planning for distributions of retirement benefits;
- Community property planning;
- Prenuptial, domestic partner cohabitation, and other property agreements;
- Charitable and other non–profit organizations and charitable planning techniques;
- Planning for multiple generations using GST–exempt dynasty trusts; and
- Resolution of disputes arising from trust and estate matters, including litigation, mediation, arbitration, and other forms
of alternative dispute resolution in State and Federal courts.
Members of our Trusts, Estates, and Non-Profit Organizations practice group are active members of international, national,
state and local bar associations, and include two former Chairs of the Estate Planning, Trust, and Probate Section of the
Bar Association of San Francisco and a former Chair of the Committee on Estate and Trust Litigation and Controversy for the
American Bar Association’s Real Property, Probate and Trust Section. Richard Kinyon and Joseph Wyatt are both long-standing
members of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) and The International Academy of Estate and Trust Law
(TIAETL). Moreover, working with Morrison & Foerster’s Trusts, Estates, and Non–Profit Organizations practice group ensures
our clients access to our firm’s considerable expertise and resources in the related practice areas of real estate, employee
benefits, business transactions, federal income tax, state and local tax, and tax controversy.
For more information about the firm’s estate planning practice, please contact Morrison & Foerster attorneys Richard Kinyon
at (415) 268-7035 rkinyon@mofo.com or Patrick McCabe at (415) 268-6926 or pmccabe@mofo.com.
