High Net Worth Estate Planning & Fiduciary Litigation

High Net Worth Estate Planning & Fiduciary Litigation Practice Group – DiTommaso Lubin, P.C.

For over 40 years, DiTommaso Lubin, P.C. has represented business owners, car dealers, physicians, and other high net worth individuals in complex business and litigation matters. Our High Net Worth Estate Planning & Fiduciary Litigation Practice Group combines that experience with focused estate planning to help clients protect family wealth, transition businesses to the next generation, and reduce the risk of future disputes.

We prepare individualized wills, revocable and irrevocable trusts, business-succession plans, and related documents for high net worth clients, including multi-store car dealership owners, physicians and medical professionals, and owners of closely held and family businesses. Because our attorneys also prosecute and defend estate and trust litigation, we understand how things go wrong—and we use that knowledge to design estate plans that are less likely to end up in court.

Who We Serve

Our estate planning group focuses on:

• Car dealership and automotive business owners, including owners of multi-location dealership groups and related automotive businesses.
• Physicians and other medical professionals whose wealth is often tied up in medical practices, surgery centers, or healthcare businesses.
• Owners of closely held and family businesses, including manufacturing, distribution, hospitality, retail, franchise, and professional-service firms.
• High net worth families, executives, and investors with complex asset structures, including closely held business interests, private investments, and real estate portfolios.

Estate Planning Services for High Net Worth Clients

Our planning work typically involves:

• Wills and Revocable Living Trusts. Designing core estate-planning documents to control the disposition of assets, provide for spouses and children, address guardianship for minor children, and avoid or reduce probate where appropriate.
• Trust Planning. Creating revocable and irrevocable trusts—including family trusts, dynasty trusts, life-insurance trusts, and special-purpose trusts—to protect assets, manage tax exposure in coordination with tax advisors, and provide structure for future generations.
• Business-Succession Planning. Integrating estate plans with shareholder agreements, LLC operating agreements, buy-sell agreements, and key-employee arrangements so that ownership and control of businesses can transition smoothly upon death, disability, or retirement.
• Planning for Multiple Heirs and Unequal Involvement. Structuring plans to treat heirs fairly while recognizing that some children or family members are active in the business and others are not, including use of voting and non-voting interests and non-business assets to “equalize” inheritances where appropriate.
• Asset-Protection Considerations. Coordinating with clients’ tax and financial advisors to address risk exposure, including liability risks for physicians, executives, and business owners, and to use entities and trusts in ways consistent with applicable law.
• Charitable and Legacy Planning. Incorporating charitable giving, family foundations, donor-advised funds, and other philanthropic structures where aligned with client goals.

Estate, Trust, and Fiduciary Litigation

In addition to planning, our lawyers have extensive experience prosecuting and defending litigation involving estates, trusts, and fiduciaries. We represent beneficiaries, executors, administrators, trustees, co-trustees, and other fiduciaries in disputes such as:

• Will contests involving allegations of lack of capacity, undue influence, or improper execution.
• Trust contests and challenges to amendments, restatements, or beneficiary changes.
• Breach-of-fiduciary-duty claims against executors, trustees, and agents under powers of attorney for mismanagement of assets, self-dealing, failure to diversify, or failure to follow trust and will terms.
• Contested accountings and surcharge actions seeking to hold fiduciaries financially responsible for losses or improper distributions.
• Disputes involving closely held business interests within estates and trusts, including valuation disagreements and conflicts between family members over control of businesses.

Because we regularly see how estate plans and trust structures are attacked in court, we are especially well positioned to help clients plan proactively to minimize those risks.

Planning With Litigation Experience in Mind

Many estate plans are drafted with little thought to how they will be interpreted—or challenged—in court. Our approach is different. We:

• Consider how documents might be read by judges, opposing counsel, and future beneficiaries.
• Anticipate points of friction among family members, co-owners, and fiduciaries based on our experience in contested matters.
• Use clear drafting, appropriate evidentiary safeguards (such as contemporaneous explanations of intent), and thoughtfully designed fiduciary structures to reduce the likelihood of later disputes.
• Coordinate with clients’ existing advisors—accountants, financial advisors, and other counsel—to ensure that the plan is both legally sound and practical to implement.

Talk With Our High Net Worth Estate Planning & Fiduciary Litigation Team

If you are a car dealership owner, physician, or business owner—or any high net worth individual—seeking to put a thoughtful estate plan in place, or if you are involved in a dispute involving an estate, trust, or fiduciary, our attorneys can help.

Contact attorney Peter S. Lubin or attorney James V. DiTommaso for a free consultation.

Call 630-333-0333 or reach us through our online contact form.

This page is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Contacting us does not create an attorney–client relationship. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.