Miami Estate Planning Attorney
Your Legacy, Secured for Generations
Saltiel Law Group: Serving Business Owners & International Families
Estate planning becomes more complex when you own a business, hold assets across multiple jurisdictions, or have family members with multiple citizenships. At Saltiel Law Group, we develop estate plans that work with your business structure and international circumstances, not around them.
Our estate planning practice serves business owners, multi-jurisdictional families, and foreign investors who need more than standard wills and trusts can provide. We understand how corporate ownership affects generational transition, impact income and transfer taxes, and how to coordinate U.S. estate plans with inheritance laws in other countries.
Since 2018, we've helped international families and Miami business owners protect over hundreds of millions in cross-border assets through strategic estate planning that accounts for both U.S. tax law and international family dynamics.
Estate Planning That Works with
Your Business, Not Around It
Most estate planning attorneys treat your business as just another asset to transfer. We take a different approach. Your business structure directly affects your estate tax liability, succession options, and family wealth transfer strategies.
Succession Planning for Family-Owned Businesses
Family business succession requires more than updating ownership percentages in your will. You need buy-sell agreements that work with your estate plan, valuation discounts that pass IRS scrutiny, and gift and estate tax strategies that preserve your family's control while minimizing tax liability.
Our succession planning process addresses:
- Gifting strategies for business interests while maintaining control
- Buy-sell agreement triggers and valuation methods
- Employment agreements for next-generation family members
- Phantom equity programs to incentivize non-family key employees
- Trust structures that protect business assets from creditors and frivolous claims
Entity Structure and Estate Tax Considerations
The entity you choose for your business affects your estate plan in ways most attorneys don't explain. We help business owners understand these connections before making costly mistakes.
How We Serve International Families and Foreign Investors
Miami's international business community faces unique estate planning challenges that most attorneys don't address. Foreign nationals, mixed-citizenship families, and Latin American investors need strategies that work across multiple tax systems and legal frameworks.
If you're from a civil law jurisdiction, U.S. estate planning may not work as you expect. In certain “civil-law” systems, forced heirship rules and community property concepts govern inheritance automatically. U.S. law gives you more control over asset distribution, but only if your estate plan is structured correctly.
Many Latin American families assume a U.S. last will and testament works like a testamento in their home country, avoiding probate and distributing assets according to their wishes. This isn't necessarily the cause. Without proper planning, your assets might still need to be probated regardless of your will.
Non-resident aliens face a $60,000 federal estate tax exemption compared to $15 million for U.S. citizens. For a non-citizen owning a $2 million Miami condominium, this creates a burdensome estate tax liability that proper planning can eliminate.
Foreign investors often structure Florida real estate ownership through single-member LLCs, believing this avoids estate tax. This strategy fails because the LLC interest itself becomes a U.S. asset subject to estate tax. Effective planning requires different structures:
- Offshore trust ownership: Assets held in properly structured foreign trusts avoid U.S. estate tax while providing creditor protection and succession planning benefits.
- Debt leverage strategies: Acquisition debt reduces the net estate value subject to tax, but recent IRS regulations require careful implementation.
- Pre-immigration planning: Establishing estate tax-efficient structures before becoming a U.S. resident preserves significant tax advantages.
Mixed-citizenship marriages create estate-planning challenges that standard approaches can't address. U.S. citizens can leave unlimited assets to citizen spouses tax-free, but transfers to non-citizen spouses are subject to annual limits and special trust requirements.
Qualified Domestic Trust (QDOT) structures allow tax deferral for non-citizen-spouse inheritances, but they require U.S. trustees and ongoing compliance obligations. We help mixed-citizenship couples evaluate whether citizenship, naturalization, or QDOT planning better serves their family's needs.
For families with children born in different countries, we coordinate estate plans to address citizenship-based tax obligations and inheritance rights across multiple jurisdictions.
Foreign investors purchasing real estate in the U.S. need ownership structures that address estate tax, income tax, and creditor protection simultaneously. Each option creates different outcomes:
- Individual ownership: Simple but exposes assets to estate tax and personal liability.
- Single-member LLC: Provides liability protection but doesn't solve federal estate tax issues for non-resident aliens.
- Multi-tiered structures: International holding companies with U.S. LLC subsidiaries can achieve estate tax efficiency but require ongoing compliance and professional management.
Estate Planning Services for Miami Families
We provide comprehensive estate planning services designed to protect your family's financial security and preserve your wealth across generations.
A properly drafted will ensures your assets are distributed according to your wishes and names guardians for minor children. Florida law requires specific formalities for valid wills, including two witness signatures and notarization for self-proving wills.
Our will preparation includes:
- Detailed asset distribution instructions
- Guardianship provisions for minor children
- Executor nomination with successor options
- Specific bequests for personal property and sentimental items
- Charitable giving provisions with tax optimization
Incapacity planning ensures that someone you trust can make financial and healthcare decisions on your behalf if you are unable to do so yourself. Without these documents, your family faces expensive and time-consuming guardianship court proceedings.
Essential incapacity documents:
- Durable power of attorney for financial matters
- Healthcare surrogate designation
- Living will with specific medical treatment instructions
- HIPAA authorization for healthcare information access
Florida offers unique asset protection opportunities that strategic estate planning can maximize. Understanding these protections helps families structure their wealth to minimize creditor exposure and litigation risk.
Revocable trusts allow you to avoid probate, maintain privacy, and provide for incapacity management while retaining full control over your assets during your lifetime. For most families, trusts offer advantages that wills cannot provide.
Trust benefits include:
- Probate avoidance for assets properly funded into the trust
- Incapacity management without court guardianship proceedings
- Privacy protection, as trust terms remain confidential
- Multi-generational wealth transfer with tax optimization
- Professional management for beneficiaries who aren't ready for direct inheritance
Families with disabled children or grandchildren need specialized trust structures that provide financial support without jeopardizing government benefit eligibility. Special needs trusts allow inheritance assets to supplement SSI and Medicaid benefits, not to replace them.
We draft trusts that:
- Maintain government benefit eligibility
- Provide for quality of life improvements
- Include administrative guidance for trustees
- Plan for trust termination and remainder distributions
How Florida Law Affects Your Estate Plan
Florida's favorable tax environment makes it an attractive state for estate planning, but these benefits require proper structuring to maximize effectiveness.
Florida's homestead exemption provides unlimited creditor protection for Florida residents’ primary residence, but this protection includes important limitations that affect estate planning.
- Creditor protection benefits: Primary residence equity is protected from most creditors regardless of value, making Florida attractive for high-net-worth individuals facing business or professional liability exposure.
- Estate planning restrictions: If you're married with minor children, you cannot freely devise your homestead. The property must pass to your spouse as a life estate with remainder to your children, or you can leave it entirely to your children. This restricts flexibility for blended families or business succession planning.
- Portability considerations: Homestead protection doesn't automatically transfer to your surviving spouse. Your spouse must qualify independently based on their residency and use of the property.
Florida probate is relatively efficient compared to other states, but trust planning still offers advantages for privacy, cost control, and multi-state asset management.
Probate alternatives include:
- Revocable trust funding for real estate and financial accounts;
- Joint tenancy with right of survivorship for married couples;
- Payable-on-death and transfer-on-death account designations;
- Enhanced life estate deeds (Lady Bird deeds) for real estate.
Each option has different tax and legal implications, which we evaluate based on your specific situation.
Florida provides several advantages for estate planning that other states don't offer:
- No state estate tax: Florida imposes no state-level estate or inheritance tax, allowing families to focus on federal tax optimization.
- Strong trust laws: Florida allows self-settled spendthrift trusts, providing asset protection benefits that many states prohibit.
- Favorable trust administration: Florida courts generally respect trust provisions and provide efficient procedures for trust disputes.
- Retirement account protection: Florida law provides strong creditor protection for IRA and retirement account assets.
Our Approach to Estate Planning
Estate planning requires understanding your family dynamics, business interests, and personal goals, not just filling out legal forms. Our process begins with education about your options and continues with ongoing plan maintenance as your circumstances change.
Bilingual Estate Planning for International Families
We provide estate planning services in both English and Spanish, ensuring you fully understand your options and feel confident in your decisions. Our bilingual approach goes beyond translation; we explain how U.S. legal concepts relate to the legal traditions you're familiar with from your home country.
Many international families benefit from coordinating U.S. estate planning with succession planning in their home countries. Through our international alliance with EJASO in Spain and Hefesto Asesores in Mexico, we help coordinate cross-border planning strategies.
Integration with Business and Tax Planning
Estate planning affects your business operations, tax obligations, and investment strategies. We coordinate with your existing accounting and financial planning professionals to ensure your estate plan complements your overall wealth management strategy.
Our integrated approach addresses:
- Business succession planning and estate tax coordination;
- Retirement plan distribution strategies and beneficiary planning;
- Investment allocation between taxable and tax-advantaged accounts;
- Charitable giving strategies that provide income and estate tax benefits.
Ongoing Plan Maintenance and Updates
Estate plans require regular updates as tax laws change, family circumstances evolve, and asset values fluctuate. We provide ongoing relationship-based service to keep your plan current and effective.
Regular review triggers include:
- Changes in federal or state tax law
- Birth or adoption of children or grandchildren
- Marriage, divorce, or death in the family
- Significant changes in asset values or business interests
- Relocation to different states or countries
Answers to Common Estate Planning Questions
Yes. Even with a comprehensive trust, you need a "pour-over" will to handle assets not transferred to the trust and to name guardians for minor children. The will serves as a safety net for assets inadvertently left outside the trust structure.
Florida's intestacy laws determine asset distribution based on family relationships. Under Florida's intestacy laws, if an individual dies without a valid estate plan, assets are distributed according to a statutory scheme based on family relationships, with a surviving spouse generally receiving either all or one-half of the intestate estate, depending on whether there are descendants from current or prior relationships.
Review your estate plan every 3-5 years or after major life events. Changes in tax law, family circumstances, and fluctuations in asset values can affect the effectiveness of the plan. Business owners should review plans more frequently due to changing entity structures and valuations.
These terms refer to the same type of trust — one that you control during your lifetime and can modify or revoke. "Living trust" emphasizes that you create it while alive (versus a testamentary trust created by will), while "revocable trust" emphasizes that you can change its terms.
Absolutely. Foreign nationals face more restrictive estate tax rules and may owe tax on U.S. assets exceeding $60,000. Without proper planning, your family could face significant tax liability and probate complications in both the United States and your home country.
Why Miami Families Choose Saltiel Law Group for Estate Planning
Our estate planning practice combines the technical knowledge and skill of a large firm with the personal attention of a boutique practice. We understand the unique needs of Miami's international business community and provide solutions that work across multiple legal systems.
Recognition and Credentials
Saltiel Law Group has been recognized by Chambers and Partners in their "USA: Spotlight 2025" guide for our work with international families and cross-border transactions. Our team includes attorneys recognized as Super Lawyers Florida Rising Stars for their estate planning and business law practices.
Strategic International Alliances
Through our partnerships with EJASO in Spain and Hefesto Asesores in Mexico, we provide coordinated estate-planning advice that addresses inheritance laws and tax obligations across multiple countries. This capability is particularly valuable for families with assets or beneficiaries in different jurisdictions.
Results-Focused Approach
Since 2018, we've helped international families and Miami business owners protect over $200 million in cross-border assets through strategic estate planning. Our approach focuses on practical solutions that address real-world family and business dynamics, not theoretical tax strategies that don't work for your specific situation.
Schedule a Consultation with Our Bilingual Estate Planning Team
Estate planning works best when you understand your options and feel confident in your decisions. We provide consultations in both English and Spanish to help you assess your needs and explore solutions tailored to your family's unique circumstances.
Call or contact us online to schedule your estate planning consultation. We offer both in-person meetings at our Coral Gables office and video consultations for international clients.