Raleigh Advanced Estate Planning Attorney

Planning for families at or above the federal exclusion

Most of our clients need a solid revocable trust, a will, and the right powers of attorney. A smaller number of families are fortunate enough to face a different question: how to pass on an estate near or above the federal exclusion amount ($15 million per person in 2026, $30 million for a married couple) without losing 40 percent of the growth to estate tax. This section of our practice is for them.

Who this is for

• A married couple whose combined assets, including life insurance, retirement accounts, real estate and a business, are approaching $15 million, or will be within the next decade.
• Anyone, married or single, with an estate above $15 million today.
• A business owner expecting a sale or liquidity event in the next two to five years.
• Families who want wealth to stay protected for children and grandchildren, outside of divorces, lawsuits and future estate taxes.
• If your estate is comfortably below these levels, our standard Trust Package or Medicaid planning is almost always the better fit, and we will tell you so at the consultation.

How We Can Help You

• Advanced Family Trust: a revocable trust for married couples that divides at the first death into a credit shelter trust and a marital (QTIP) trust, with the flexibility to decide after the first death how much to shelter.
• Spousal Lifetime Access Trust (SLAT): use your exclusion now while your spouse keeps access to the assets.
• Dynasty Trust: a perpetual, generation-skipping trust for children and grandchildren that is never taxed again.
• Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust (ILIT): keeps life insurance out of your taxable estate and provides liquidity.
• Grantor Retained Annuity Trust (GRAT) and Qualified Personal Residence Trust (QPRT): move the growth of an asset, or a home, at little or no gift tax cost.
• Charitable Remainder and Charitable Lead Trusts: sell appreciated assets without capital gains tax, or pass growth to children, while supporting the causes you care about.
• Standalone Retirement Trust: protects large IRAs and 401(k)s for your heirs under the current ten-year payout rules.
• Sales to a grantor trust: transfer a growing business to a trust for your family with no gift tax at all.

How we work 

Every advanced plan starts with a consultation with Kevin Peach, who handles all of our client consultations personally. We review your balance sheet, your family and your goals, and we tell you plainly whether advanced planning will pay for itself. If it will, we design the plan in writing, coordinate with your CPA, financial advisor, and insurance professional, and quote a flat fee for the engagement.

We draft, you sign at one of our three Triangle offices or virtually, and we handle funding: deeds, assignments, beneficiary changes, and the gift tax return package for your CPA. Irrevocable trusts need care every year. We offer ongoing administration support (Crummey notices, annuity payments, note payments, trust protector services) so the plan keeps working after the signing.

How we price advanced planning

Advanced planning is priced case by case. These trusts are significantly more complex than a standard revocable trust or a Medicaid asset protection trust: each one involves tax modeling, valuation, coordination with your CPA and financial advisor, and years of administration that the document has to anticipate. For that reason, they are not on our flat-rate menu. After your consultation we quote a flat fee for your specific plan, so you still know the full cost before any work begins.

Get Started Today!

Schedule a consultation with Kevin Peach. We will tell you plainly whether advanced planning is right for your family and quote a flat fee for your plan. 

Call (919) 759-6353 or visit our contact us page to schedule an initial consultation today.

Disclaimer: This page is general information about North Carolina and federal estate planning, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Exemption amounts are as of 2026 and change annually. Every plan depends on the client's facts, and no result is guaranteed.
Common Questions and Answers

Is the federal exclusion going away?

The 2025 federal tax legislation made the $15 million exclusion permanent and indexed it for inflation. Planning is no longer about beating a deadline. It is about keeping the growth of a large estate outside the system, using exemptions efficiently, and protecting what passes to the next generation.

Does North Carolina have an estate tax?

No. North Carolina repealed its estate tax in 2013. Everything on these pages concerns the federal estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer taxes.

Can I just give assets to my children now?

You can, and for some families that is the right answer. But an outright gift gives up all control and protection, and it wastes the opportunity to leverage the gift through a trust that is also exempt from generation-skipping tax. Most clients at this level use a trust.

Why isn't this on your flat-rate menu?

Our flat rates work because a standard trust package is a well-defined product. Advanced planning is not: a SLAT for a couple with a closely held business and a SLAT for a couple with a brokerage account are very different engagements. We quote a flat fee for your plan after the consultation.