For more than 60 years, GD&D has been a trusted advisor helping clients manage complex tax management situations. Our goal is to help clients build net worth and preserve assets. We strive to give clients more control over their wealth, and increase their ability to pass their wealth on to their children and heirs at a lower cost.
Estate planning
Effective estate and gift planning facilitates the transfer of assets to beneficiaries, provides security for surviving spouses and can reduce or eliminate the tax due on the transfer of business and other assets.
GD&D works with clients to identify their needs: a child or relative to provide for; a family member who has difficulty managing his affairs; a desire to execute significant charitable giving. These needs may be current, impacting the income tax arena, or may occur after a death. Once we establish the need, we evaluate the situation and suggest appropriate strategies. After the plan is in place, we assist clients with plan compliance.
Trusts
GD&D has the experience to help clients learn about various trust devices, how they work and what benefits they include. We take the time to understand what our clients want, and help them analyze the different options. GD&D offers a proactive and positive practical approach with personalized attention at a time that often involves difficult decisions and adverse situations.
- Irrevocable Trusts are usually for children and are established in a will or during life. An Irrevocable Trust is a legal document with a legal identity and its own tax return. Through this device a parent, or donor, can protect money in the trust from creditors. It provides the Grantor of the trust with a level of control over the distribution of assets to his or her children.
- Testamentary Trusts are set up in a will and specifies that in order to pass assets to a particular beneficiary, that beneficiary must have a trust to receive them.
- Living Trusts protect the privacy of beneficiaries. The assets in a Living Trust avoid probate and do not enter the public record. A will, by comparison, may contain names and social security numbers of beneficiaries, and if tied to a probate inventory, can enter the public record and be used to ascertain the assets a beneficiary is receiving.
Gifts
GD&D has the expertise to offer multiple options to clients, giving them greater choice, control and tax savings. This translates into the ability for clients to transfer more of their wealth to their beneficiaries rather than losing it to taxes or administrative costs.
The law requires a gift tax return be filed for goods or cash, valued at more than $11,000 a year, given to an individual or a single entity. How a client makes the gift will determine the control that he or she has over it; choosing the correct tax year in which to make contributions, and donating the correct assets (i.e. stock vs. cash) is critical.
Children's education
GD&D advises clients on all of their options when providing for their children's education. Clients can achieve positive tax benefits, both in the estate arena and in the income tax arena, when assets are removed from their estate for education. Rather than simply setting up investment plans for their children that are taxable each year, the chosen method to fund education can be tax deferred or tax exempt. Clients can remove assets while at the same time retaining control over those assets. The net result is that clients may be able to provide their children with an education they didn't think they could afford.
Retirement
GD&D presents clients with a complete range of possibilities and helps them to determine what their best option for retirement. Good planning provides clients with greater flexibility as to when they choose to retire and the quality of their retirement. Clients make the ultimate decision, but we ensure that they have the knowledge to make an informed choice, including the values and risks of all courses of action.
Insurance
Given the cost of insurance, and the possibility of either over-insuring or under-insuring, GD&D can help clients assess the value of their different options. We provide the information to help clients get the best value for the money they are spending — for themselves and/or their beneficiaries — in case of death or disability.
Insurance devices:
- Life Policy
- Disability
- Irrevocable Trust
Real Estate Transactions
If a client plans to buy or sell a commercial or multi-family property, GD&D can help structure the transaction to minimize the tax hit. Through proper structuring and tax characterization, we can allocate the maximum amount to short-lived depreciable assets, thus enhancing the after-tax cash flow. We also provide due diligence review for the purchaser, and assist in negotiating the purchase or sales price. Early involvement gives us the ability to guide clients through the transaction to save them more money.
Business succession, expansion, acquisition or liquidation
Clients build successful businesses, have tremendous passion, and work hard for their success. Developing a business succession plan increases the likelihood that the business will succeed when the client is no longer involved. An effective plan avoids potential power struggles and, costly disruptions, and ensures the successful continuation of the business. GD&D is experienced in dealing with businesses and personal estates of various sizes and complexity. We work with clients to convert wealth into assets to fund retirement, transfer ownership to desired successors and plan for the business's success after transition.
GD&D High Net Worth Contact
Rod Desroches
