Trust & Estate Planning in Tampa
Protect what you have built. Integrate your business succession and estate plan into one coordinated strategy.
Fee-Only
Compensated solely by our clients. No commissions. No conflicts.
Serving Florida Since 1995
Three decades of fee-only fiduciary wealth management.
Your Business Succession Plan and Your Estate Plan Are the Same Document
Your estate plan, reviewed continuously. Coordinated with your attorney.
If your estate plan does not account for your business, it does not account for your largest asset. And if your business succession plan does not coordinate with your estate structure, your family may face conflicting instructions, unnecessary tax, and a transition that serves no one's intentions.
Buy-sell agreements should be reviewed alongside wills and trusts. Life insurance funding should be evaluated alongside entity structure. The value of what you transfer to the next generation should be measured after taxes and after creditor exposure, not before. For Tampa Bay's business families, integrating these two plans into one coordinated strategy is where the real protection happens. View our trust and estate approach
Your Tampa FinancialTeam
Michael T. Koenig, CFP®, J.M.
Mike founded FirsTrust in 1995 and leads the firm's trust and estate practice. A Certified Financial Planner® with a JurisMaster in Law and 40 years of experience.
William J. Kearney, Jr.
Bill serves as President and Business Manager of FirsTrust, overseeing the firm's day-to-day operations. He is often the first voice to welcome prospective clients to the firm.
Estate Planning Considerations for Tampa Bay Families
Business Succession Integration
Buy-sell agreements, family limited partnerships, and entity restructuring coordinated with your estate plan. Ownership transfer that accounts for tax, governance, and family dynamics.
GRATs for Business Owners
Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts transfer business appreciation to heirs while minimizing gift tax. Effective when interest rates are low and business value is expected to increase.
Dynasty Trust Planning
Florida's 1,000-year trust duration enables multigenerational wealth protection with creditor, divorce, and estate tax insulation for beneficiaries.
Current Exemption Utilization
The $15M per person federal exemption is the highest in history. Funding irrevocable trusts now locks in the exemption permanently, regardless of future legislation.
Common Questions About Trust & Estate Planning in Tampa
A buy-sell agreement governs what happens to business ownership when a partner dies, becomes disabled, or wants to exit. It should coordinate with your estate plan so that the purchase price is funded (often through life insurance), the payment terms align with your family's liquidity needs, and the ownership transfer is consistent with your estate documents. Inconsistencies between buy-sell agreements and estate plans are common and can create delays, disputes, and unintended tax consequences. Your FinancialTeam reviews both documents for alignment and coordinates with your attorney. Learn more
A Grantor Retained Annuity Trust (GRAT) is an irrevocable trust that pays the grantor a fixed annuity for a specified term. If the trust assets appreciate faster than the IRS-assumed interest rate (the Section 7520 rate), the excess passes to beneficiaries with minimal or zero gift tax. This can be effective for transferring business interests expected to appreciate significantly. The grantor retains annuity payments during the trust term, so it is not a complete transfer of assets. If the grantor dies during the trust term, the assets are included in the taxable estate. Design and funding of GRATs involve complex legal and tax considerations. Your FinancialTeam coordinates with your estate attorney.
A dynasty trust is designed to last across many generations (up to 1,000 years in Florida), keeping assets outside every beneficiary's taxable estate while providing for distributions. A standard generation-skipping trust typically spans two to three generations. The choice depends on your family's goals, the size of the assets to be transferred, and whether you want to allocate generation-skipping transfer tax exemption now or preserve flexibility. Larger transfers and families with multigenerational planning goals generally benefit more from dynasty structures. Your FinancialTeam evaluates the options within your overall estate plan.
In a cross-purchase arrangement, each partner (or an LLC controlled by the partners) purchases life insurance on the other partner. At death, the surviving partner uses the insurance proceeds to buy the deceased partner's interest from the estate. This gives the surviving partner a stepped-up basis in the purchased interest, which can reduce future capital gains tax upon a subsequent sale of the business. Cross-purchase agreements work well for businesses with two or three partners. For larger partnerships, entity-purchase (redemption) agreements may be more practical. Your FinancialTeam coordinates with your attorney and insurance professional.
Florida's homestead protection provides unlimited creditor protection on equity in your primary residence (within acreage limits: 1/2 acre inside a municipality, 160 acres outside). For business owners who may face business creditor risk, this protection is significant. However, homestead protection does not apply to all types of claims (federal tax liens, for example, are not shielded). The protection also restricts how homestead can be devised in your estate plan. Your FinancialTeam coordinates homestead planning with your asset protection and estate strategy. This is general information; consult with a Florida attorney for guidance specific to your situation. Learn more