Protect What You've Built. Reduce What You Owe. Leave More Behind.
Estate planning isn't just about who gets what after you're gone. It's about protecting what you've built, cutting your tax bill, and making sure more of your wealth actually makes it to the people you care about. For high-net-worth individuals, business owners, and families with significant assets in El Paso and Southern New Mexico, the right tax planning strategies can save hundreds of thousands, even millions, in federal estate taxes, income taxes, and capital gains.
We design custom tax focused estate plans using proven strategies that fit your financial goals, family dynamics, and values.
Who Needs This Kind of Planning?
Advanced tax planning makes the most sense if you have significant life insurance benefits, a family-owned business, substantial real estate holdings or rental properties, high value investment accounts, charitable interests, large retirement assets, or if you're thinking about wealth transfer across multiple generations.
Every family is different so your plan should reflect that.
The Tools That Actually Work
Depending on your situation, we might use one or more of these strategies:
1) Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust
An Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust keeps life insurance proceeds out of your taxable estate. This protects the policy from estate taxes and gives your family liquidity right when they need it most, often to pay estate taxes or settle debts without having to sell assets.
It removes the life insurance from your estate, protects assets from creditors, creates tax efficient wealth transfer, and works well for business succession planning. For example, business owners can use this strategy when life insurance is part of their overall wealth plan, not just income protection.
2) Intentionally Defective Grantor Trust
An Intentionally Defective Grantor Trust lets you freeze the value of assets for estate tax purposes while allowing future appreciation to transfer to your beneficiaries tax free. You're still responsible for paying income taxes on the trust's income, which actually helps because it lets the trust grow without being reduced by taxes.
Common uses include transferring family business interests, protecting growth for future generations, reducing your taxable estate over time, and leveraging valuation discounts. IDGTs are especially popular with business owners in locations such as the El Paso border region where family operated companies are common.
3) Grantor Retained Annuity Trust
A Grantor Retained Annuity Trust lets you transfer appreciating assets to beneficiaries with minimal gift taxes by keeping an income stream for yourself for a set period. If the assets grow faster than the IRS hurdle rate, the excess growth passes to your beneficiaries free of gift and estate taxes.
A GRAT works best when you own assets expected to grow significantly, you want to transfer that growth while keeping income, or you want a structured, predictable plan. This tool is frequently used with closely held businesses, investment portfolios, and commercial real estate.
Charitable Remainder Trusts
These come in two forms. A Charitable Remainder Unitrust provides variable income to you or your beneficiaries during your lifetime, with remaining assets going to charity. A Charitable Remainder Annuity Trust provides a fixed annual income with the remainder going to charity.
Both create immediate tax deductions, help you avoid capital gains when selling appreciated assets, support legacy charitable giving, and can provide retirement income. These are powerful strategies for El Paso clients who value both charitable impact and tax efficiency.
Self-Cancelling Installment Note
A Self-Cancelling Installment Note is an agreement where you sell assets to a family member in exchange for periodic payments. When you pass away, the remaining balance is canceled, removing that unpaid value from your taxable estate.
This transfers asset appreciation outside your estate, creates structured income, supports succession for businesses and real estate, and can leverage valuation discounts. SCINs work well for family business transitions, ranches and property holdings, and real estate portfolios. They can be especially effective when combined with trusts.
Building a Complete Strategy
These tools can work well individually, but they're most powerful when we combine them into one coordinated plan.
For example, an El Paso business owner might use a SCIN to transfer the business, a GRAT for investment assets, an Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust to provide estate liquidity, and a Charitable Remainder Trust for both charitable and tax goals.
We look at your complete financial picture to build a custom tax strategy that works for your family now and for generations down the road.
What We Bring to the Table
Advanced planning requires deep knowledge of federal estate tax rules, gift tax and exemption limits, income tax implications, charitable laws, IRS compliance, and business valuation methods.
We simplify complex strategies so you understand every decision without getting lost in technical jargon. Most importantly, we approach tax planning as a family strategy, not just a financial exercise.
Understanding the Borderland
We work with individuals and families across El Paso County, Las Cruces, Doña Ana County, and the broader border region. We understand how family businesses, cross border dynamics, and multiple property holdings shape your planning needs in West Texas and Southern New Mexico.
Let's Talk
If you want to preserve wealth, reduce taxes, support causes you care about, or transition assets to the next generation efficiently, we can help.