Arnold & Porter's Private Client Services group provides an interdisciplinary approach to addressing the complex needs of family business owners and individual clients. The group counsels clients on a wide variety of issues relating to estate planning, tax, real estate, family disputes, business organization and succession planning.
We review our client's overall picture, from the protection of assets to issues of family harmony, and from philanthropic goals to the client's tolerance for complexity and risk in tax planning. We coordinate the members of the client's team of advisors, ensuring the client obtains answers vetted not just by us but by all relevant advisors and furnish independent advice with a long-term perspective. We communicate clearly and serve as a confidential sounding board for our individual and family clients. Accordingly, we have built many successful long-term relationships with our individual and family clients.
AREAS OF FOCUS INCLUDE:
Business Organization, Counseling and Succession Planning - structuring, restructuring and setting up businesses, including family offices; advising families and individual clients on business succession issues, family participation and family nonparticipation in the business, family vs. nonfamily management, provision of equity compensation to nonfamily management and intrafamily holdings and investments; advising individual clients in their roles as officers and directors of public, private and nonprofit companies. Analyzing insurance coverage, asset ownership entities and business relationships in order to reduce exposure to liabilities.
Complex Divorce Cases - consulting with prominent family law attorneys in large divorce cases to provide specialized advice concerning financial and business assets, including investment management companies, intellectual property assets and real estate partnerships; litigating complex divorce cases.
Estate Planning - implementing sophisticated transfer strategies; using "freeze" and discounting techniques including family limited partnerships, limited liability companies and "defective" trust planning; forming dynasty, family and charitable trusts, both onshore and offshore; establishing and counseling private foundations on issues of family participation and governance to technical issues such as minimum distribution requirements and "self-dealing" and other prohibited transactions; working with life insurance and other liquidity techniques and providing sound advice on the management and transfer of wealth to and among family members.
Real Estate - structuring of real estate and other financial transactions; buying, selling and developing property; using creative financing and planning techniques to maximize cash flow and tax benefits; assisting clients in complying with environmental laws and protecting them from liabilities arising out of contaminated property through indemnification, insurance and other mechanisms; restructuring debt, both in and out of bankruptcy; and formulating gifting strategies. Our clients own various types of real property, including multifamily, office and industrial, vineyard, hotels, retail, mobile home parks, restaurants, mining property and farmlands.
Tax - strategizing to reduce taxes by deferring income, converting ordinary income to capital gain through the use of derivatives, options, and by other means; converting interest and other portfolio income to tax-favored dividends; implementing creative and individualized planning which may include asset protection trusts and offshore private annuities, like-kind exchanges and conservation easement planning, or tax-conduit entities and foreign tax credit maximization strategies to reduce the global tax rate of the family business. We have particular experience dealing with tax controversies from the initial audit notice through the final tax litigation appeal.
Visual Arts - assisting families with authenticity and provenance issues, dealings with galleries and auction houses, and tax issues related to the transfer of artworks.
Representative Engagements
- Counseled venerable non-US family on their US-situs assets and on the implications of having younger generation family members residing within the US
- Advised family on division and separation of family assets including substantial real estate portfolio to allow for efficient ownership, operation and management of the assets and to minimize the likelihood of future conflict.
- Reviewed family's asset protection structure, including insurance, trusts and other forms of ownership, geographic diversity, exempt assets, etc., to minimize family exposure.
- Established significant multigenerational trust structure to keep assets within the family and protected from creditors.
- Undertook business succession planning wherein founder transferred 50% of the business to his senior management team and 50% to his children.
- Counseled branch of family to settle a family dispute