SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
For more than 40 years we have focused exclusively on the law of fiduciaries, estates & trusts, closely held businesses, non-profits and related litigation. Within this practice area, we handle it all:
Estate and Closely Held Business Planning. We prepare wills, various types of trusts, and other estate planning documents. These documents can be simple or complex depending on specific family concerns and/or on tax and asset protection considerations. Our firm represents clients with family businesses: from the selection of the type of entity and the creation of the governing instruments to structuring business succession planning. In every representation, we explore various approaches with our clients and then tailor the documents to address their goals.
Fiduciary Litigation and Tax Disputes. We handle a broad range of will, trust, and other fiduciary litigation. This litigation includes disputes on the meaning of estate planning documents, arguments involving estate or trust administration, challenges based on lack of capacity or undue influence, and breaches of fiduciary duty within trusts, estates, or closely held businesses. We handle state and federal complex tax disputes for individuals, non-profits, and closely held businesses.
Estate and Trust Administration. We help clients with the process of winding up a decedent’s financial affairs by implementing the individual’s estate plan or in accordance with state law if the person has no valid planning documents. We prepare all estate and income tax returns in-house so we can offer seamless administration services from beginning to end.
Our Firm Culture and Why It Is Important to Clients
There are four defining attributes imbedded in the DNA of our firm: (1) We focus on specific practice areas. These practice areas overlap to a surprising degree and are closely related. It is largely a world unto itself with its own unique set of laws, rules and practices. It requires a concentrated focus. (2) We keep a broad perspective while practicing in a defined niche. We “do it all” within that niche – estate and closely held business planning, estate/trust administration, and fiduciary litigation. This means that each lawyer constantly sees similar issues from various perspectives which gives depth to our advice and counsel. (3) We work as a team. We do not just give lip-service to intra-firm collaboration, but we follow a business model to achieve it and make it a habit. Clients are clients of the whole firm – not just of one lawyer in the firm. (4) Our culture fosters a deep understanding of our practice focus. The practice of law, like medicine, engineering, and other areas, is a learned profession. Our lawyers regularly teach courses for lawyers and judges. Firm members also write articles for law reviews and other legal publications and are active in the Maryland Bar Association. These activities keep the firm at the forefront of legal developments.
Our roots go back more than 40 years representing individuals and families with their estate planning, with their closely held business entities, and representing personal representatives, trustees, and beneficiaries in related litigation. For the last decade, the firm has consistently expanded but we do not grow so quickly or so big as to forget that every client matter requires the full attention of the firm. Clients benefit from the collective experience and knowledge of the whole firm with partners and associates staying thoroughly engaged in every aspect of every representation.
We serve clients located various distances from our physical office in Annapolis: from the Eastern Shore, the southern counties, the counties surrounding Baltimore and Washington, and western Maryland. The remote service options that we have perfected in response to the pandemic continue to provide our more distant clients with ease and convenience without sacrificing the quality of our services.
For more information about our firm and how we approach representing our clients, visit our website at www.frankebeckett.com.
151 West Street, Suite 301; Annapolis, MD 21401; 410-263-4876 | www.frankebeckett.com
