Estate Planning, Business Succession, and Trust and Probate Administration:
An Experienced New England Practice with Worldwide Connections

At Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC (DRM), giving personal attention and delivering high quality legal services to clients are our highest priorities. A solid reputation spanning 57 years and a dynamic, expanding practice with more than 85 attorneys and legal professionals provide the measures of our success. We are Lex Mundi’s Vermont member firm.

DRM’s estate planning attorneys provide practical, timely, sophisticated legal advice to help our clients plan and manage assets to achieve specific financial objectives.

We:

• listen to our clients and provide legal advice and services to structure how your assets will be owned, managed and disposed of during your lifetime, upon death or in the event of mental incapacity
• handle all aspects of probate, trust and estate planning, including drafting wills, creating trusts, preparing durable powers of attorney for property and health care and advising individuals and organizations about gift planning techniques and tools, and estate and trust administration.

Our clients include:

• individuals, business owners and executives, and families with a wide range of estate planning goals
• fiduciaries and trust companies involved with estate planning and trust and estate administration
• American citizens and residents who own property in locations outside the U.S. and/or whose spouse is not a U.S. citizen
• individuals who are citizens or residents of other countries who own property in the U.S.

Members of our group have strong working relationships with accountants, financial and insurance advisors and other professionals practicing in related areas of financial and tax planning, and we collaborate closely with other DRM attorneys when estate planning matters involve other areas of the law.

DRM’s estate planning lawyers prepare complex wills; create charitable trusts, testamentary and family trusts; and help you effectively integrate your retirement benefits into your estate plan.

Carefully crafted wills and/or trusts are key to fulfilling the intent of our clients. In addition, through skilled planning, gift and estate taxes and the generation-skipping transfer tax may be eliminated or minimized. We can advise you and prepare the documentation to accomplish your goals through:

• credit shelter trusts
• a variety of irrevocable trusts including qualified personal residence trusts, life insurance trusts, and so-called Crummey Trusts
• charitable trusts
• family trusts, partnerships and limited liability companies
• carefully planned beneficiary designations for retirement plan and IRA benefits

Our goals include helping you develop a plan that enables you to fulfil your philanthropic intentions, to ensure that your family, property and assets are maintained and transferred according to your objectives and to integrate your retirement benefits, including pensions, 401(k), IRA and other retirement instruments, with your estate planning.

Our services include all aspects of probate, estate and trust administration.

In addition to preparing all documents to be filed with the probate court, attending court hearings and preparing gift and estate tax returns and fiduciary income tax returns, our attorneys provide advice to clients on how to avoid or minimize probate court jurisdiction and involvement during incapacity and/or upon death.

Our clients benefit from our extensive experience in providing advice and services to the owners, principals and executives of closely-held businesses.

Whether you are concerned about how desired ownership and management of your business may be maintained and/or transferred during your lifetime or at death in a tax efficient manner, how your retirement objectives may be accomplished or how to achieve business succession or sale within or outside the family while minimizing adverse tax implications in the process, our estates and trusts group will work closely with you to accomplish your goals.

World-class talent at an excellent value

DRM’s New England location attracts lawyers and legal professionals with world-class talent who choose lifestyles in the smaller cities and towns of Vermont and New Hampshire. This means you get the personal attention and value associated with a smaller law firm, without sacrificing talent, depth or quality.

Based in Vermont and New Hampshire, connected throughout the world

As the exclusive member firm for Vermont of Lex Mundi, the world’s leading association of independent law firms, DRM has immediate entrée to more than 20,000 lawyers in 160 prominent and successful law firms with 560 offices in 99 countries. The firm’s association with Lex Mundi gives DRM’s clients the added benefits of:

• access to local market knowledge and experience
• relevant industry expertise
• sound business and language skills
• responsive service

Contact Us

To explore how we can help you accomplish your estate, gift and retirement planning objectives, please contact Estates & Trusts Practice Group Chair Jake Wheeler.

A full-service New England law firm

Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC is a full-service, regional law firm. As clients’ needs expand into other areas of law, the firm’s wide range of legal specialties and commitment to vigorous collaboration across practice areas can provide seamless, cost-effective legal representation.