Wealth Strategies

Whether you’re looking out for the future of your business or the futures of your children and grandchildren, we can assist you with a viable and proactive strategy. Lathrop & Gage offers value-added counsel for high-net-worth clients, savvy navigation of the ever-changing tax landscape and the most sophisticated financial planning techniques.

We have extensive experience serving:

Individuals and Families. Our goal is to help you transfer wealth to your chosen beneficiaries with the least tax and administration costs. We prepare and protect your legacy through:

• Drafting of wills, trusts and other planning documents
• Preparation of income tax, gift tax and estate tax returns
• Retirement and life insurance planning
• Estate and trust administration
• Income, estate and generation-skipping transfer tax planning
• Planning for charitable gifts
• International estate planning
• Trust and estates litigation and contested tax matters
• Conservatorships and guardianships

Businesses. We are particularly adept at advising the owners of closely held businesses. Our Wealth Strategies team regularly counsels entrepreneurs and owner-managers on:

• Succession planning
• Ownership transfer and the related tax and financial aspects
• Income tax planning
• Organization and structure of corporations, limited liability companies and limited partnerships

Not-for-Profit Organizations. We provide knowledgeable, industry-focused service to our tax-exempt charitable organization clients. Our attorneys advise a number of private and public foundations, public charities and charitable trusts on federal and state regulations, tax questions and other matters.

Representative Experience:

• Represented the primary benefactor in the development of the $320 million state-of-the-art Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. When it is completed, it will house the three largest performing art institutions in Greater Kansas City: the Kansas City Symphony Orchestra, the Kansas City Ballet and the Lyric Opera of Kansas City. We negotiated $25 million in tax credits with the Missouri Development Finance Board.
• Assisted client with the formation of a family limited partnership worth $200 million after father’s death. This strategy saved the family $30 million in estate taxes.
• Assisted high-net-worth clients to start a charter school in the urban core of Kansas City, Missouri. We represented the family and the school in its formation and the construction of its campus. The K-12 public charter school provides an excellent college preparatory education to more than 1,000 children in Kansas City.  
• Counseled an individual regarding the succession of his business. The client agreed to transfer, by way of gift, all of the stock in his multimillion-dollar manufacturing company to his six children. He took a deferred compensation package. With a strong succession plan in place, which included management details, the children took the business gifted from their father and turned it into a $40 million business. The client passed away in 2007. Because of the firm’s wealth management advice, his children owed no inheritance tax and are able to continue this thriving business.