David Kauffman

/Home/Probate & Estate Attorneys: Columbus OH

With over 475 lawyers across mid-America, Frost Brown Todd offers a deep, talented roster of legal professionals covering commercial transactions and real estate; business and corporate law; environmental; intellectual property; labor and employment; litigation; and business succession planning. The firm operates throughout 10 offices in five states including Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee and West Virginia.

We leverage technical, industry, and legal knowledge and hands-on experience to serve a diverse client base, from global multinationals to small, entrepreneurial companies. Our industry teams integrate that powerful network of legal talent and business experience to provide strategic, comprehensive services across our regional platform.

Wealth preservation and wealth transfer issues are important to everyone. Frost Brown Todd helps clients rest assured that their legacy and contribution to those they value is planned with their own objectives in mind. We help them develop the right path for estate, income tax, retirement, charitable contributions and business succession planning. In addition, we work with closely-held businesses to handle all tax matters, ranging from choice of business structure and operation issues to the transfer, sale or liquidation of the business.

Estate Planning

Our clients can carry out their wealth transfer objectives and minimize the transfer tax costs with precise planning and counsel. Our knowledgeable attorneys can help prepare an estate plan that will provide for the beneficiaries of an estate, minimize the taxes associated with the transfer of assets, and provide for surrogate decision making for financial and health care matters in the event of an individual’s incapacity.

The Estate plans can include:
- Last Will and Testament
- Trust Agreement
- Durable General Financial Power of Attorney
- Advance Medical Directives such as:
- Health Care Powers of Attorney
- Living Wills
- Organ Donation

Federal Estate Gift and Generation Skipping Tax Planning

Our attorneys assist clients in creating trust arrangements (family limited partnerships and limited liability companies) to shelter as many assets from federal estate, gift and generation skipping taxes as possible. These arrangements often allow clients to provide beneficiaries with asset management services, protect assets for family members, and leverage tax exemptions so that assets may be transferred at the lowest overall tax cost. Such arrangements include:
- Generation skipping trusts
- Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts (ILITs)
- Family Limited Partnerships (FLPs)
- Limited Liability Companies (LLCs)
- Qualified Personal Residence Trusts (QPRTs)
- Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts (GRATs)

Retirement Planning

We routinely assist our clients with significant retirement plans and IRA accounts and integrate those assets in their overall estate plan. This involves providing the client with an analysis and recommendation of the appropriate beneficiary designation for those assets to ensure that they are coordinated with their estate plan. We can also counsel the client on the type and timing of distributions from IRAs and qualified retirement plans. Finally, we provide tax analysis concerning the advantages and disadvantages of accelerated withdrawals from retirement plans or IRAs and to assist in developing insurance or charitable gift funding.

Charitable Planning

Our experienced group can assist clients in reviewing charitable giving techniques among organizations they contribute to or feel strongly about, and can help them identify the income and estate tax ramifications and benefits of such charitable giving. For example, we may find that participating in a charity’s pooled income fund or creating a private foundation would meet a client’s objectives. Alternatively, we could help a client explore many other options, such as:
- Charitable Remainder Trusts (CRUTs and CRATs)
- Charitable Lead Trusts
- Conservation Easements
- Preservation Easements
- Gift Annuities
- Pooled Income Funds
- Private Foundations

Trust Administration

We assist clients in developing, implementing and administering their trusts. This frequently entails coordinating the transfer of assets to the trust during the client’s life. We can assist with the transfer of securities, brokerage accounts and real estate to the trust; we also assist the client with the bookkeeping required to maintain certain types of trusts and prepare tax notices and tax returns that can also be associated with such trusts. Additionally, we also counsel beneficiaries of trusts created for their benefit by family members or other persons.

Estate Administration

Frost Brown Todd can assist a client in the administration of his or her decedent’s estate. Whether the estate requires a full probate administration or a less formal settlement process, we are experienced in all aspects of estate administration. The services involved in probate administration matters include:
- Preparation of documents and court pleadings
- Preparation of federal and state estate and inheritance tax returns
- Postmortem income and estate tax planning
- Disclaimers
- Coordination of appraisal and valuation of estate assets
- Supervision of asset transfers and trust funding

Frost Brown Todd lawyers frequently represent individual and corporate fiduciaries in the estate and trust administration process.

Estate and Trust Litigation

If a client is a beneficiary of an estate or trust, we can advise him or her as to the nature and extent of his or her interests. We can advocate for our client’s interests to ensure the property rights are protected via:
- Will contests
- Trust construction matters
- Contested guardianships
- Cases involving breach of fiduciary duties

Family Law
- Prenuptial agreements
- Guardianship implementation and management
- Analysis of tax aspects of divorce
- Domestic partnership agreements
- Adult adoptions

Income Tax Matters for Individuals & Business Entities
- Purchase and sale of businesses
- Like-kind exchanges
- Individual income tax matters
- Strategic planning and tax analysis
- Tax controversy and tax litigation

Family Business Representation
- Counseling business owners on choice of business entity
- Preparing buy/sell agreements
- Preparing organizational and operational documents related to Limited Partnerships and Limited Liability Companies
- Advising clients concerning executive compensation
- Addressing corporate and partnership tax issues
- Structuring the sale of a business

Ohio State Bar Association Certified Specialist - Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law

David Kauffman
Frost Brown Todd LLC
1 Columbus #2300
10 W Broad St
Columbus OH 43215
Tel: 614 559-7283
Fax: 614 464-1737
E-mail: dkauffman@fbtlaw.com

Practice Areas
* Personal and Succession Planning

Concentration
* Estate Planning
* Probate and Trust Litigation

David E. Kauffman is of Counsel at Frost Brown Todd in the Personal Planning and Family Business department. Mr. Kauffman focuses his practice on estate planning, probate, asset protection and business succession planning. He represents individuals, families and business owners to create customized estate and succession plans that achieve their individual, family and business objectives. David is OSBA Certified in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law.

David has served on the Advisory Board for Commerce Clearing House's Journal of Practical Estate Planning and is a regular columnist. Additionally, he teaches a number of Continuing Education Classes for attorneys, accountants and life insurance professionals and has taught workshops for numerous national corporations and has led workshops for Planned Philanthropic Giving. In addition to teaching for national audiences across the country, David is a regular presenter for regional Ohio Life Underwriter organizations and was a feature presenter for the Statewide conference of the Ohio Association of Life Underwriters.