Estate Tax Lawyers in Asheville

Comprehensive Estate & Gift Tax Solutions in Asheville

At Strauss Attorneys, PLLC, we help families protect wealth through both traditional and advanced planning techniques. Our attorneys explain the options in plain language and tailor strategies to your financial picture.

Common tools we use include:

• Intra-Family Loans: Low-interest loans that let you shift assets to children or grandchildren while taking advantage of favorable IRS rates.
• Spousal Gifting Trusts: Trusts that move assets to a spouse with estate tax protections, while still allowing you to maintain access during your lifetime.
• Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts (GRATs): Vehicles that let you keep income for a period of years, then pass appreciating assets to beneficiaries at a reduced gift tax cost.
• Qualified Personal Residence Trusts (QPRTs): A way to transfer a home or vacation property to heirs, while keeping the right to live there for a set term.
• Installment Note Sales to Trusts: Structured sales that move appreciating assets into an irrevocable trust, leveraging long-term wealth transfers.
• Self-Cancelling Installment Notes (SCINs): Promissory notes designed to cancel upon the holder’s death, moving assets while limiting tax exposure.
• Private Annuities: Agreements that provide a family member with guaranteed income while reducing gift and estate taxes.
• Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts (ILITs): Life insurance structures that deliver tax-free benefits to pay estate taxes or support beneficiaries.
• Dynasty & GST Planning: Long-term trusts and strategies that preserve wealth across generations while minimizing transfer taxes.
• Zeroed-Out Estate Tax Plans: Coordinated strategies to eliminate estate tax liability by maximizing exemptions and lifetime gifts.

Our role is to match the right mix of these tools to your goals, so you preserve more for your family and less for the IRS.