Lippman, Semsker & Salb has a robust practice helping people care for their families, loved ones, friends, and charitable interests through estate planning.

Key Documents For All Families. We carefully consider each client’s needs when we help a family plan; we never try to fit you into a model. Instead, we craft Wills and related documents to suit each client. Whether preparing simple “husband-and-wife” Wills or complex trusts, we work hard to ensure that you have a document that reflects your needs. We prepare a durable power of attorney and an advance directive on healthcare (also known as a “living will”) for every client whose choices make those appropriate tools. Some families use Revocable Trusts in lieu of Wills; we can advise you whether that might be appropriate for you.

Planning for High-Net-Worth Individuals. A substantial part of our practice focuses on estate and tax planning for high-net-worth families, individuals, and their closely-held companies. We deliver effective and creative personal, financial, charitable, and tax planning to individual clients and closely-held family companies. We are experienced in many tax-minimization and estate freeze techniques, such as descendants’ trusts, Intra-Familial Loans, Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts, Dynasty Trusts, Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts, sales to grantor trusts, and private annuities. We also assist our clients in leaving charitable legacies through charitable remainder trusts, gift agreements, conservation easements, and the creation and administration of private foundations. We proudly offer the same skill, resources, and capacities as are found at most large firms, but because we are less encumbered by the expensive overhead required by other work done by large law firms, we are able to do so at a fraction of the cost. We provide unparalleled estate planning services with the confidential, personal advice and attention that people expect from a long-time family lawyer.

Administrative and Trustee Services. We provide guidance and administrative services for large and complex trusts and estates and handle contested and non-contested probate and trust matters for executors, trustees, and beneficiaries and prepare estate, trust, and guardianship accountings.

Succession Planning for Family Businesses. We advise business owners on strategies to transfer all or a portion of the family business in a tax-efficient manner to children, employees, and third parties, finding tax-efficient transfer techniques and, often-times, transfer techniques that allow the owner to retain control during his or her lifetime.

Estate Administration. We advise executors, fiduciaries, and families on proper administration of estates (including probate transfers, non-probate transfers, and trust administration and termination) to minimize estate and income taxes and ensure a prompt and accurate completion. We assist fiduciary clients to prepare tax returns, plan transactions, and seek rulings and approvals or opinions from the Internal Revenue Service and state and local authorities. We also represent fiduciaries in potential and actual disputes with family members, taxing authorities, and creditors.

• Our Firm serves families with no meaningful assets and we serve families with tens of millions of dollars.
• We prepare simple wills and we prepare complex rolling GRATs feeding multi-generational IDGTs.
• We represent judges, small-firm lawyers, partners at international law firms, legal secretaries, and even some of the nation’s leading Supreme Court litigators.
• Our clients are newly-weds, young families with young children, and retirees with grandchildren.
• We represent physicians, journalists, analysts, Hill staffers, contractors, government employees, and professors.

In short, we serve Washington.