Wealth Transfer Planning
St. Louis Wealth Transfer Planning Attorneys
Transferring significant wealth to the next generation involves more than a will. It requires coordinated planning across trusts, gifting strategies, tax considerations, and family governance. With more than 20 years advising St. Louis families on wealth transfer, O’Gorman and Sandroni design plans that reflect both financial objectives and family values.
Trust-Based Wealth Transfer Strategies
Irrevocable trusts, grantor trusts, and generation-skipping arrangements can move assets out of a taxable estate while providing structure and protection for beneficiaries. We help clients select and implement the strategies appropriate to their asset base and goals, rather than defaulting to a single approach.
Lifetime Gifting and Tax Planning
Coordinated lifetime gifting can reduce the size of a taxable estate while giving donors the satisfaction of seeing beneficiaries benefit from gifts during their lifetime. We work with clients’ financial and tax advisors to structure gifting programs that make sense given current exemption amounts and family circumstances.
Planning for Multiple Generations
Families with significant assets often want to provide for children, grandchildren, and future descendants while preserving incentives for those beneficiaries to lead productive lives. We draft trust terms that balance access to funds with protections against creditors, divorce, and poor financial decision-making.
Frequently Asked Questions
A generation-skipping trust is designed to pass assets to grandchildren or later generations rather than children, potentially avoiding an additional layer of estate tax that would apply if assets passed through each generation in turn.
No. While some techniques are geared toward larger estates, many wealth transfer strategies, such as properly structured trusts and lifetime gifting, benefit families across a range of net worths by adding structure, protection, and tax efficiency.
Basic estate planning ensures assets pass to the people you choose; wealth transfer planning layers in more sophisticated tax and asset protection strategies aimed at preserving and growing wealth across generations.
Since 1985 Sean O’Gorman and Andrew Sandroni have been representing clients in all areas of the law. O’Gorman & Sandroni, P.C. was founded in 1989 on the principles of honesty, integrity, and the aggressive pursuit of our client’s goals.