Cozen O’Connor’s Private Client Services Group assists clients in all areas relating to wealth management, wealth transfer, philanthropic giving, and business succession planning. We counsel high-net worth families and individuals both in the U.S. and abroad, and assist successful business owners and entrepreneurs. We provide advice on trusts, estates, tax strategies, business strategies, estate disputes, and asset protection during major life events.
Decisions about passing wealth to the next generation or restructuring a closely held business involve deeply personal considerations about family, duty, and legacy. Standing as they do at the nexus of public and private, our attorneys are not simply legal technicians—they are trusted family advisors. They provide steadfast counsel through life’s most significant transitions so that clients’ goals are realized.
The Group includes more experienced attorneys in the field than almost any large law firm in the country. With numerous partners who have been practicing for over thirty years and a group of talented young lawyers, the Group’s collective experience serving individuals and families of great wealth is wide-ranging and unique. Fundamental to this work is a high-level technical understanding of the tax code, trust and estates laws, securities regulations, and accounting procedures. The Group’s attorneys bring an intellectual rigor and perspective to the practice, which ensures that our clients are able to capitalize on opportunities and avoid unanticipated complications. We are adept at identifying tax-favorable solutions that fit the needs of each family.
Our attorneys pair legal acumen with keen social intelligence. They know the law, and they know people. Establishing a sense of mutual trust and respect is critically important in the private client services field because of the personal nature of the issues involved. Our clients can talk in confidence, and we listen and advise without judgment.
SERVICES
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Structure a full-range of trusts and wealth transfer instruments, including grantor-retained annuity trusts, asset protection trusts, insurance trusts, dynasty trusts, qualified personal residence trusts, grantor trusts, revocable trusts, special needs trusts, and private annuities
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Advise business owners about succession management, asset protection, recapitalizations, gift programs, life insurance, benefit programs, and sales or restructuring opportunities
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Establish family limited partnerships and limited liability companies
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Further philanthropic goals through charitable lead and remainder trusts
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Form private foundations and provide ongoing tax, operations, and compliance counseling
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Handle all phases of estate and trust administration, including probate, taxes, investment planning, and asset distribution
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Draft powers of attorney and living wills
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Advise clients on legal rights and wealth management around major life events
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Counsel multinational clients on asset protection strategies in the U.S. and abroad
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Represent clients in state and federal courts in trust reformations and terminations, cy-pres and incapacity hearings, accounting proceedings, tax controversies, and will disputes
CLIENTS
We advise families and individuals with substantial wealth both in the U.S. and abroad. We work particularly closely with business owners and entrepreneurs.
TEAM
The members of Cozen O’Connor’s Private Client Services Group are among the most respected in their field and include five fellows of the invitation-only American College of Trust and Estate Counsel. Our attorneys have been asked to serve on state orphans’ court rules committees and estate law advisory committees, and have been elected to chair city and state bar association probate and trust law sections. The team includes a board member of the international Attorneys for Family-Held Enterprises, a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners, and two certified public accountants. Several senior attorneys regularly lecture and publish articles about trust and estate law and related tax issues.
Very few large law firms in the U.S. have maintained trust and estate practices of the size and caliber of this one. Rather than cede our practice to the boutiques, Cozen O’Connor has redoubled its investment in the private client field. First, our attorneys serve as primary business advisers to numerous families with successful closely held multi-generational enterprises. Second, we believe private clients benefit from working with a full-service firm. Because of the nature of the relationship our attorneys enjoy with their clients, we are often the first point of contact on a huge range of legal matters, from probate procedures to patent infringement, corporate transactions to real estate transactions. As a full-service firm, Cozen O’Connor is able to act quickly to provide seamless and effective legal counsel.