Estate Planning
Request a Private ConsultationMost Estate Plans Were Not Built for Wealth at Your Level
A standard will or revocable trust works fine for simple estates. But when your net worth spans multiple entities, real estate holdings, private investments, business interests, and family trusts, the stakes are fundamentally different. A plan that is merely adequate can cost your heirs millions in unnecessary estate taxes, expose assets to creditors, and unravel decades of careful accumulation in a single probate proceeding. Families in Boca Raton with estates above $10 million require a different class of planning entirely — one that coordinates tax strategy, legal structure, and wealth transfer across generations with surgical precision.
Advanced Estate Strategies for Complex Wealth
1
Dynasty Trusts & Multi-Generational Planning
Keep wealth compounding inside a trust structure for 100+ years — eliminating estate taxes at every generational transfer and shielding assets from creditors and probate.
2
Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts (ILITs)
Remove life insurance proceeds from your taxable estate and create an immediate, tax-free liquidity pool — so heirs can settle estate obligations without a forced sale of illiquid assets.
3
Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts (GRATs)
Transfer appreciating assets — private equity, concentrated positions, South Florida real estate — to heirs at near-zero gift tax cost by leveraging the IRS hurdle rate.
4
Family Limited Partnerships & LLCs
Consolidate family assets into a single structure to capture 20–40% valuation discounts, strengthen creditor protection, and centralize management across generations.
5
Charitable Lead & Remainder Trusts
Satisfy philanthropic goals while generating significant tax deductions and transferring residual wealth to heirs at a substantially reduced transfer tax cost.
6
Business Succession & Exit Planning
Ensure your business passes or sells entirely on your terms — with valuation strategy, buy-sell agreements, and tax consequences managed well before a transaction occurs.
From First Conversation to Generational Certainty
The families who benefit most from our work have already outgrown their last advisor.
Estate Planning Questions from South Florida Families
For estates above $10 million, standard planning tools are often insufficient. Florida’s lack of a state income tax makes it attractive for wealth accumulation, but federal estate tax exposure at the $13.61 million exemption threshold (per individual, as of 2024) demands proactive strategies — particularly with the scheduled sunset of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2026, which would effectively cut the exemption in half. UHNW families in Boca Raton benefit from advanced structures like GRATs, SLATs, dynasty trusts, and family limited partnerships that are rarely discussed in conventional estate planning conversations.
The elevated federal estate tax exemption established under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 is currently scheduled to sunset at the end of 2025, reverting to approximately $7 million per individual (indexed for inflation). For married couples, that means the combined exemption could drop from roughly $27 million to $14 million. Families who take action before the sunset — through gifting strategies, trust structures, or other transfer mechanisms — may be able to lock in today’s higher exemption and protect tens of millions from future estate taxation.
We are fiduciary wealth advisors, not attorneys, and we do not draft legal documents. What we do is serve as the strategic coordinator for your entire estate plan. We work alongside your existing estate attorney or connect you with experienced South Florida estate counsel we trust. Our role is to ensure the financial strategy, tax structure, and investment planning are fully integrated with the legal documents — which is the piece most advisory relationships miss entirely.
A privately held business is often a family’s largest and most illiquid asset — and the most complex to plan around. We address business interests through a combination of valuation strategy, entity structuring, buy-sell agreement review, and transfer mechanisms such as GRATs or family limited partnerships. For business owners planning a future exit, we coordinate estate planning directly with transaction planning to maximize after-tax proceeds and minimize estate inclusion.
Florida is one of the most favorable states in the country for asset protection planning. Homestead protections, unlimited IRA exemptions, and tenancy-by-the-entireties rules provide significant natural protections. For assets beyond these protections, domestic and offshore trust structures, FLPs, and LLCs can provide additional layers of defense. We work with your legal team to build a coordinated asset protection strategy as part of your broader estate plan.
Trusted by South Florida’s Most Successful Families
Nichols Wealth Partners has been recognized for delivering exceptional wealth management outcomes for high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients across Boca Raton, Palm Beach County, and South Florida. Our fiduciary commitment means your interests — not product commissions — drive every recommendation we make.
