Hargrove Firm has long been known for crafting quality estate plans for individuals and families. Estate planning is a critical component of financial planning that can create financial security for your loved ones and ensure your wealth is distributed as intended.
Nearly 20 years ago, Jamie Hargrove, the founder of Hargrove Firm, introduced “First Step Estate Planning.” This was a key step toward simplifying the estate planning process that has since revolutionized the world of financial planning. Jamie’s innovative approach is still central to Hargrove Firm’s estate planning practice and, eventually, evolved into the NetLaw Platform™, which is now an industry standard.
The NetLaw Platform™ is a technology that connects clients, financial advisors and attorneys to deliver a quality estate plan efficiently and effectively. It was created to fill the gaps in both the legal and financial processes and has since helped many families establish the generational financial security they’ve been looking for.
Clients who would like to work with an estate planning lawyer in a traditional setting may meet with Hargrove Firm attorneys in the Louisville, Kentucky office.
Following Hargrove Firm’s initial success, the company expanded its presence into additional offices across several states. Soon, the firm was accepting referrals from financial professionals across the country and needed an option to serve clients from coast to coast. In order to address this increased need, cofounders Jamie Hargrove and Alex Hargrove developed a new technology platform, NetLaw. Since the launch of NetLaw, Hargrove Firm has been able to increase accessibility to estate planning services and help a wider variety of families achieve their financial goals.
NetLaw makes it possible for Hargrove Firm attorneys to provide estate planning services across all 50 of the United States (plus Washington, D.C.). And thanks to the platform’s built-in efficiency, clients can benefit from the same quality of service as a traditional estate planning client at a fraction of the cost.
Estate plans from Hargrove Firm that are delivered by NetLaw are available to clients exclusively through financial advisors. This is because Hargrove Firm seeks to be part of a client’s well-rounded planning team. Attorneys work with a client’s financial planning team to ensure that trusts are funded in a tax-efficient manner. This makes it easy for families to balance multiple competing interests–efficiency, accuracy, quality of services, and cost-effectiveness–all at once.
Learn more about how to get started on your estate plan by visiting our page dedicated to it: Online Estate Planning powered by NetLaw.
If you are a financial advisor interested in learning more about providing an estate planning option to your clients, please visit NetLaw.com.
Charitable giving is often a crucial component of the estate planning process that helps our clients create a positive impact on the world. Hargrove Firm prides itself on educating each of its clients on the many different creative charitable giving options that are currently available. This helps accomplish their charitable goals, while also introducing the income and estate tax savings strategies that an optimized estate plan requires.
Hargrove Firm proudly has one of the largest estate administration practices in the country. The Firm has an extensive background in assisting beneficiaries, trustees, and other relevant parties with every component of the estate planning process. This makes it easy to successfully navigate the estate and trust environment and ensure that each client’s wishes are fulfilled and their assets are fairly distributed.
During the Estate and Trust Administration process, the firm’s team will:
Hargrove Firm’s trust and estate litigation practice focuses on probate, trust, and fiduciary disputes. Disagreements about wills, trusts, the probate process, and the actions or inactions of fiduciaries can be highly contentious. Luckily, there are many equitable solutions available that offer fairness to all parties involved and can help fulfill the wishes of the original asset holder.
Hargrove Firm advises clients who are dealing with issues concerning trusts, guardianships, conservatorships, and estate with a particular focus on the representation of professional fiduciaries, and in all phases of litigation. These cases can often be complex and require experienced and sophisticated legal support. Hargrove Firm attorneys have handled jury trials and bench trials in both state and federal courts, including at the appellate level. Their vast experience has prepared them to address whichever trust and estate litigation challenges might emerge.
Additional information on the practice is available here: Trust & Estate Litigation.
Hargrove Firm is one of the nation’s preeminent elder care law practices. A dedicated team of experienced attorneys works closely with seniors and their loved ones to help determine the best course of action in any given situation. Services offered include:
Anticipating Care Needs: Assisting caregivers in elder law, estate planning, geriatric care, financial assistance, and other concerns.
Life Care Planning: A Life Care Plan places special emphasis on issues surrounding the elderly, those with long-term illnesses, and those who have been incapacitated.
Assisted Living Placement: Hargrove Firm is an advocate for the elderly and their caregivers, helping them find and fund the best quality long-term care for their loved ones. The dedicated and client-focused team is especially vigilant when it comes to preventing any type of elder abuse such as physical abuse, emotional suffering, sexual abuse, negligence and financial exploitation.
Veteran Benefit Assistance: The firm’s professionals work together to help support families through the process of qualifying and applying for veteran benefits.
Hargrove Firm truly cares about every client that they work with. No matter what your current elder care and related legal challenges might present, their team of attorneys will work hard to find the best solutions available.
Individuals with disabilities have increased financial and care needs, so ensuring their long-term welfare can be complex for caregivers. Planning for someone with special needs requires considerations that go beyond those of a typical estate plan, for example. But with the right legal team on your side, you can find special needs solutions that ensure fairness, security, and equity for all parties involved.
Hargrove Firm attorneys help address and respond to the unique challenges of caring and planning for a family member with special needs. The firm’s “Life Care” philosophy guides the legal team to provide holistic and practical advice that can help in almost any situation.
Finding an attorney to handle the transfer of real estate located in other states is often cumbersome. Hargrove Firm has eliminated the hassle. Whether you need to transfer ownership of a local property or a vacation home in another state, Hargrove Firm offers a swift, no-hassle solution. In most cases, we are able to secure a deed in any state, signed by an attorney in just one business day.
Hargrove Firm has earned a reputation for delivering the forward-thinking legal results that entrepreneurs and business owners need for success. Whether you are starting a business or selling it–or doing anything in between–the Hargrove Firm has the experience and proving principles to help make your business dreams a reality.
BUSINESS FORMATION
Hargrove Firm combines the experience of its tax attorneys with its CPAs to form teams that meet the specific needs of each client, addressing a host of issues entrepreneurs face as they start their businesses and begin to expand.
Entity Selection: Establishing a legal business entity has both short-term and long-term implications worthy of careful consideration. Between Limited Liability Corporations, S-Corps, C-Corps, and partnerships, business owners face a number of key decisions that our experts can guide them through in ways that best meet the goals of the business and protect it from various risks.
Employee Stock Incentive Plans (Phantom Stock Plans): An alternative to giving key employees stock or membership interests in a company may be to establish a Employee Stock Incentive Plan (“ESIP”), sometimes referred to as a Phantom Stock Plan (“PSP”). An ESIP/PSP can provide all of the financial benefits and incentives of stock ownership without the legal and other issues that may come with employee equity in a company. These incentive plans are flexible and can be molded into a plan that fits a company’s specific situation.
BUSINESS SUCCESSION PLANNING
Business succession planning can help preserve the legacy of a business and ensure its long-term success. In many cases, business owners build into their estate plans the option for family members to take over business interests in the event of the owner’s death or retirement.
An effective business succession plan should include private interviews of potential future owners to confirm they are equipped to take over the business and, more importantly, that they actually desire to do so. Simply because a child or other relative is working in the business doesn’t necessarily mean that the family member will want to own and operate the business. Given the family’s desires, owners may seek counsel in considering alterations to their business succession plans.
The Hargrove Firm’s principals can assist with these key decisions and the execution of the business succession plan, including critical buy-sell agreements.
TRANSACTIONS – MERGERS, ACQUISITIONS & DISPOSITIONS
Hargrove Firm has represented the sellers of closely-held businesses across the United States in transactions totaling nearly one billion dollars in the last year alone.
For business owners, the process of selling a business entirely or in part can easily become overwhelming, and the time required for sale-side due diligence to ready the company for a closing can be daunting. This added time commitment often comes when most business owners are already occupied by running the day-to-day operations of their business. Hargrove Firm strives to make the legal and tax issues easier for executives and business owners.
View the related brochure: Exit Planning: Tax-Focused Sale of Businesses.
The firm’s tax attorneys and CPAs represent entrepreneurs selling their business by:
VALUATIONS
Hargrove Firm Valuations is a national business valuation and forensic accounting practice that employs a formidable team of attorneys and Certified Public Accountants to meet client needs from start to finish. Led by its President, Andrew W. Green, the Valuations team utilizes state-of-the-art technology and diverse skill sets to deliver the highest quality professional services to clients.
Our Valuations team provides a personal, customized experience by working closely with our clients and their advisors to achieve timely, efficient results. Service areas include business valuations, forensic accounting, economic damages, and expert testimony.
Additional information on the practice is available here: Valuations.
Hargrove Firm also advises clients on other capital events, including:
Entity Conversions: A business owner may have selected an entity type at formation that is no longer as advantageous today. When a business grows into new phases of its lifecycle or tax laws change, a business owner may consider converting the business to a new entity type. The firm’s legal experts are equipped to guide owners and investors in such decisions and the resulting legal and tax implications.
Buy-Sell Agreements: A buy-sell agreement is a key component for any business with multiple owners or certain key employees. The structure and terms of a buy-sell agreement benefit from the scrutiny of skilled professionals who have addressed similar needs for clients time and again.