South Florida Estate and Gift Tax Planning Lawyer
Estate and gift tax planning for families and business owners in South Florida starts with a fundamental advantage: Florida has no state estate tax and no state inheritance tax. For residents, that leaves only the federal estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer tax regime to plan around.
Our South Florida estate and gift tax planning lawyer represents individuals, couples, and family business owners on lifetime gifting strategies, trust structures, business succession, and coordinated wealth transfer planning throughout Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach Counties. Whether your planning is driven by a recent move to Florida, a family business approaching a succession event, or a taxable estate that requires active planning, reach out to the attorneys at Loshak Law PLLC to discuss the structure that makes sense for your situation.
Why Choose Loshak Law PLLC for Estate and Gift Tax Planning in South Florida?
Estate and gift tax planning takes careful planning and a through understanding of each client’s goals. The right structure depends on the assets, the family, the operating businesses, and the tax environment that will apply when assets transfer. Our estate planning attorneys in South Florida work with clients to identify what they’re trying to accomplish and then build the plan around those goals.
Local Legal Knowledge in South Florida
Our founder, Brandon F. Loshak, built the firm’s transactional practice around business law, real estate, and estate planning matters. He is admitted to the Florida and Texas bars, earned his J.D. at St. Thomas University School of Law, and holds a finance degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Brandon carries the AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell, the highest recognition for legal ability and ethical standards. His finance background shapes the firm’s approach to valuation, entity planning, and the interplay between tax rules and business structures.
Of Counsel Evan C. Leach adds more than 13 years of practice in real estate, business law, asset protection, and complex litigation. A cum laude graduate of the University of Miami School of Law, Evan holds bar admissions in Florida and Massachusetts. His asset protection work frequently intersects with estate and gift tax planning, particularly for clients relocating from higher-tax states.
Integration with Business and Real Estate Practice
Wealth transfer planning often touches multiple legal disciplines. Family-owned operating businesses need buy-sell agreements, voting and non-voting classes of equity, and succession planning aligned with the family’s tax objectives. Real estate holdings need deed structures that work for both current ownership and planned transfers. Our firm handles business formation, commercial real estate, and residential real estate under one roof, which simplifies coordination across the planning documents.
Transparent Fee Structure
Estate and gift tax planning engagements vary widely in scope. Simple gifting programs can be handled on a flat fee. More layered plans involving trusts, business succession, and multiple entities are usually better handled hourly, with the scope and budget discussed up front. Clients have worked with our office on matters involving millions of dollars in assets.
What Clients Say
★★★★★
“Mr. Loshak was professional and diligent in his representation. He not only kept me informed he also put me at ease during a stressful period in my life. I full heartedly give him the highest recommendation if you are in need of legal assistance.” – Sean Ford
Read more reviews on our Google Business Profile.
Types of Estate and Gift Tax Planning Cases We Handle in South Florida
Estate and gift tax planning covers a range of strategies and structures, each with a purpose tied to the client’s assets, family situation, and tax exposure.
- Annual exclusion gifting programs. Structured lifetime gifting programs that use the annual gift tax exclusion to transfer assets out of a taxable estate over time, without consuming lifetime exemption amounts.
- Lifetime exemption gifting. Larger gifts that consume portions of the lifetime unified gift and estate tax exemption, documented and reported on Form 709.
- Revocable and irrevocable trusts. Trust structures, including grantor trusts, irrevocable life insurance trusts, qualified personal residence trusts, grantor retained annuity trusts, and spousal lifetime access trusts. We coordinate trust drafting with our trust litigation practice so documents are drafted with enforcement in mind.
- Family entity structures. Family limited partnerships and family LLCs used to hold investment assets, real estate, or operating business interests, often with restrictions that support defensible valuation discounts on transferred interests.
- Business succession planning. Transfers of family-owned operating businesses to the next generation through a combination of gifting, sales to intentionally defective grantor trusts, and recapitalizations that separate voting and non-voting interests.
- Charitable giving strategies. Charitable remainder trusts, charitable lead trusts, donor-advised funds, and direct charitable giving programs integrated with the overall estate plan.
- Generation-skipping transfer planning. Structures that use the generation-skipping transfer tax exemption to pass assets to grandchildren and later generations with GST protection allocated during lifetime or at death.
- Florida domicile planning. Coordinating declaration of domicile filings, severing ties to prior high-tax states, and structuring asset ownership to support Florida residency for state tax purposes.
- Portability planning for surviving spouses. Timely filings on IRS Form 706 to preserve the deceased spouse’s unused exemption amount (the DSUE) for the surviving spouse’s later use.
- Coordination with wills and probate. Gift and tax planning documents coordinated with our wills drafting and probate and estate administration services to deliver a cohesive plan from lifetime transfers through estate settlement.
Florida Legal Requirements for Estate and Gift Tax Planning
Estate and gift tax planning for Florida residents sits within a framework of federal tax law and state-level trust and probate law. Florida’s tax treatment creates a favorable baseline, while the federal system supplies the planning challenges.
Florida has no state estate tax or inheritance tax. Florida’s former estate tax was tied to a federal credit that was phased out by 2005. Families relocating from higher-tax states often establish Florida residency as part of their broader planning.
Trust administration in Florida is governed by the Florida Trust Code at Chapter 736 of the Florida Statutes. The Trust Code covers the creation, validity, modification, and termination of trusts, as well as the duties of trustees, the rights of beneficiaries, and the procedures for trust administration. Florida’s version follows the Uniform Trust Code’s structure with state-specific variations.
Wills, intestate succession, and the elective share of a surviving spouse are governed by Chapter 732 of the Florida Statutes, the first half of the Florida Probate Code. Chapter 732 sets out the execution requirements for wills, the rules for pretermitted spouses and children, the elective share of a surviving spouse, and the intestate distribution rules when there is no valid will.
Federal estate tax applies to estates exceeding the federal exemption amount. The IRS estate tax page publishes current exemption amounts and filing thresholds, along with IRS Form 706, the federal estate tax return filed for estates exceeding the filing threshold. Estates that do not owe tax may still file Form 706 to elect portability, preserving the deceased spouse’s unused exemption for later use by the surviving spouse.
Federal gift tax applies to lifetime transfers exceeding the annual exclusion amount per recipient. Form 709 is filed to report taxable gifts. The gift and estate tax exemptions are unified, so lifetime use of the exemption reduces the amount available at death.
Federal generation-skipping transfer tax applies on top of estate and gift tax to transfers that skip a generation, such as transfers from grandparents to grandchildren. The GST exemption is allocated during lifetime or at death to shield transfers from the additional GST tax layer.
Important Aspects of a South Florida Estate and Gift Tax Planning Case
Every plan is different, but a handful of components come up in most estate and gift tax planning engagements. Our South Florida estate and gift tax planning attorney works through the following elements when building or revising a plan.
Inventory of Assets and Valuation
The starting point for any plan is a full accounting of what the client owns, how each asset is titled, the current beneficiary designations, and the value of each asset. Real estate, operating businesses, investment accounts, retirement accounts, life insurance, and tangible personal property all get inventoried. Valuation issues, particularly for closely held businesses and real estate, frequently drive planning decisions.
Gifting Strategies and the Annual Exclusion
Annual exclusion gifts, gifts into trust that qualify for the annual exclusion through Crummey powers, and lifetime exemption gifts each serve different purposes in a plan. Direct payments of medical expenses and tuition made to the provider or institution fall outside the gift tax system entirely and can supplement an annual gifting program without using exclusion amounts.
Trust Structures for Tax Mitigation
Irrevocable trusts remove future appreciation from the grantor’s estate when properly structured. Grantor retained annuity trusts, qualified personal residence trusts, and spousal lifetime access trusts each serve specific planning objectives and have specific drafting requirements. Irrevocable life insurance trusts are used to keep life insurance proceeds outside the taxable estate. The right structure depends on the asset being moved, the client’s risk tolerance, and the planning horizon.
Business Succession and Family Businesses
Family-owned operating businesses present some of the highest-stakes planning situations. Recapitalizations that create voting and non-voting classes, gifts of non-voting interests, sales to intentionally defective grantor trusts, and buy-sell agreements among family members all come into play. Coordinating the business succession with the estate plan avoids the situation where the plan looks clean on paper but fails to deliver control or liquidity when it matters.
Charitable Giving and Planning
Charitable giving can be integrated with the plan through outright gifts, bequests, charitable remainder trusts, charitable lead trusts, and donor-advised funds. Each structure has different income tax, gift tax, and estate tax consequences. Clients with philanthropic goals often find that coordinated charitable planning accomplishes both personal objectives and meaningful tax reduction.
Coordination with Wills, Trusts, and Probate
Estate and gift tax planning documents need to work with the client’s broader estate plan. The will, revocable trust, beneficiary designations, and ownership titling all need to align so assets flow where the plan intends. A plan that produces tax-efficient structures but fails to coordinate title and beneficiary designations will underdeliver when it matters most.
Contact Loshak Law PLLC
If you’re considering a gifting program, structuring a trust, planning a business succession, or establishing Florida residency for tax purposes, early legal involvement helps build a coherent plan that accounts for all the moving pieces. Our South Florida estate and gift tax planning attorneys serve clients throughout Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach Counties from offices in Fort Lauderdale and Hollywood. Contact us to schedule a consultation. During that first conversation, we will review your assets and objectives, identify the planning strategies that fit, and discuss fees openly. Put the experience of the attorneys at Loshak Law PLLC to work on your estate and gift tax plan.
