Put your estate plan in place.
Move forward with confidence.
Connect your estate plan with your taxes, your business, and the people who matter most. From wills and living trusts to advanced wealth-transfer strategies, Concierge CFO helps you select an appropriate approach and manages the planning and implementation process, using our legal counsel as necessary.
Take care of an important milestone. Give your family greater clarity.
You do not need to know which trust to choose before you begin. You need a clear starting point, practical guidance, and a team that helps you follow through.
Whether you are starting from scratch or updating a plan that no longer fits your life, Concierge CFO helps turn your intentions into a coordinated estate plan. Address who will act for you, how your assets should pass, and what your family needs to know—while considering your taxes, cash flow, and business interests.
Concierge CFO provides coordinated estate-planning services, from your initial review and strategy through documentation, implementation, and ongoing support. We serve as your primary point of contact and engage our legal counsel as necessary for legal review, document preparation, and other legal work.
The 2026 estate-tax landscape
For U.S. citizens and residents, the federal estate-and-gift basic exclusion is $15 million per person in 2026, before accounting for prior taxable gifts and other adjustments. Eligible married couples may potentially preserve up to $30 million through coordinated planning; that result is not automatic. Portability generally requires a properly filed federal estate-tax return. Federal estate-tax rates reach 40%.[1]
Florida does not impose estate tax for deaths after December 31, 2004. Federal rules and exposure in other states can still matter when you own property or have connections outside Florida.[2] A plan can also be valuable well below federal thresholds because incapacity, inheritance management, and business continuity are separate concerns.
Finish the estate-planning milestone you have been meaning to resolve.
A marriage, a growing family, a property purchase or a change in business ownership can leave an older plan out of step with your life. Starting now gives you time to make thoughtful choices, organize the records and follow through on the agreed implementation steps.
Is this the right next step for you?
You need a first will, are considering a living trust, have an outdated plan or want to coordinate substantial wealth and business interests. You do not need to know the name of a trust to begin. Tell us who and what you want the plan to provide for.
What the first conversation helps you resolve
We will discuss your family, assets, existing documents and priorities, then help identify a practical starting point. Concierge CFO provides and manages the services, using our legal counsel as necessary. We confirm the documents, implementation responsibilities and fees before engagement.
Choose a starting point today. Give the people who matter greater clarity.
Choose a meeting time that works for you, or request a callback. Start with the people you want to provide for, the assets you own and what feels unfinished. We will explain which records and decisions are needed for the agreed next step.
Choose your starting point.
| Service | Price |
|---|---|
| Will | $980 |
| Incapacity and healthcare coordination | CALL |
| Beneficiary designations and ownership | CALL |
| Funding and implementation | CALL |
| Revocable Living Trust | $1,740 |
| Irrevocable trusts | CALL |
| Grantor and non-grantor trusts | CALL |
| Marital, QTIP, and credit-shelter trusts | CALL |
| Spousal lifetime access trusts (SLATs) | CALL |
| Dynasty and generation-skipping trusts | CALL |
| Grantor retained annuity trusts (GRATs) | CALL |
| Grantor retained unitrusts (GRUTs) | CALL |
| Grantor retained income trusts (GRITs) | CALL |
| Qualified personal residence trusts (QPRTs) | CALL |
| Sales to intentionally defective grantor trusts | CALL |
| Asset freezes and preferred-interest structures | CALL |
| Family LLCs, partnerships, and business succession | CALL |
| Real estate and concentrated holdings | CALL |
| Irrevocable life insurance trusts (ILITs) | CALL |
| Lifetime gifts and family funding | CALL |
| Charitable remainder trusts (CRTs) | CALL |
| Charitable lead trusts (CLTs) | CALL |
| Special-needs and protected inheritances | CALL |
| Retirement-account inheritance planning | CALL |
Start with the service that fits your needs. Concierge CFO provides and manages your estate-planning services, using our legal counsel as necessary. We confirm the scope and included deliverables before engagement. Call 727-620-4030 for all services marked CALL.
Start with the essentials your family will rely on.
Wills and pour-over wills
Will — $980
Give your family clear written instructions about your wishes.
A will directs the distribution of assets governed by it, names a personal representative, and can nominate guardians for minor children. A pour-over will can direct remaining probate assets into a trust at death. A will does not itself avoid probate, and beneficiary-designated assets need separate review.[3]
Planning focus: Clear instructions, family priorities, executor choices, and consistency with trusts and account ownership.
Incapacity and healthcare coordination
Make it easier for trusted people to step in when you need them.
Estate planning also addresses who can act during your lifetime. Concierge CFO helps you address durable financial powers of attorney, healthcare decision-making documents, living wills, and related authorizations, engaging our legal counsel as necessary. We help organize the financial information, account access instructions, and cash-flow picture the designated people may need.
Planning focus: A practical handoff if illness or incapacity interrupts your ability to manage your affairs.
Beneficiary designations and ownership
Help your assets reach the people you intend to benefit.
Review retirement accounts, insurance, payable-on-death accounts, jointly held property, and business interests together. We build an inventory of current owners and beneficiaries and resolve inconsistencies across your estate plan, involving our legal counsel as necessary. The right document cannot compensate for an asset that transfers through an entirely different mechanism.
Planning focus: Align primary and contingent beneficiaries, account titles, and your intended inheritance plan.
Funding and implementation
Finish the implementation work that makes the plan useful.
Signing a trust is only part of the work. Appropriate assets must be transferred or coordinated with it. We help track the funding checklist, document completed steps, and coordinate necessary legal and custodian actions through the appropriate professionals. Retirement assets need special treatment; transferring an IRA into a living trust during life can cause tax problems.[4]
Planning focus: Turn a set of documents into an operating estate plan.
You do not have to sort through every option alone.
Tell us what you want to resolve. Concierge CFO will help you identify an appropriate starting point and the steps needed to complete your agreed plan.
Choose a trust that serves your family's goals.
Revocable living trusts
$1,740
Create continuity for your assets and the people who may manage them.
A revocable trust generally lets you amend the plan while you have capacity and provides for successor management. Properly funded assets can avoid probate. Retained ownership and control generally keep the assets in your taxable estate; the trust alone does not remove estate tax or protect your own assets from your creditors.[4]
Often considered for: Continuity, privacy, multiple properties, and organized administration.
Irrevocable trusts
Give a lasting gift a carefully considered structure.
Irrevocable trusts can support completed gifts, controlled inheritances, charitable goals, or specialized transfer-tax planning. The label alone does not establish a tax benefit. Retained rights, beneficial interests, trustee powers, and actual administration determine the outcome; retained enjoyment can bring assets back into the taxable estate.[5]
Planning tradeoff: Potential long-term benefits in exchange for meaningful limits on access and control.
Grantor and non-grantor trusts
Understand the ongoing tax picture before choosing a trust.
These describe income-tax treatment, not whether a trust is revocable. A grantor may remain responsible for trust income taxes even when assets have been transferred for estate-planning purposes. A non-grantor structure requires its own income-tax and distribution analysis. We model who bears the tax and how that affects family cash flow.[6]
Planning focus: Separate income-tax ownership from gift- and estate-tax treatment.
Marital, QTIP, and credit-shelter trusts
Balance support for your spouse with your longer-term family wishes.
Credit-shelter or bypass trusts can use a deceased spouse's available exclusion. Qualified terminable interest property (QTIP) trusts can provide qualifying income rights for a surviving spouse while directing the remainder to chosen beneficiaries. QTIP treatment generally defers estate tax rather than eliminating it. Elections and basis consequences deserve careful comparison.[7]
Often considered for: Married couples, blended families, and balancing spouse support with a family legacy.
Spousal lifetime access trusts (SLATs)
Explore a way to provide for your spouse and plan for future generations.
One spouse makes an irrevocable gift to a trust benefiting the other spouse and potentially descendants. This may move future appreciation outside the donor's estate while allowing distributions to the beneficiary spouse under the trust terms. Divorce, a spouse's death, and reciprocal-trust rules are material design issues.[8]
Planning focus: Model the donor's financial independence without assuming continued personal access to gifted assets.
Dynasty and generation-skipping trusts
Set a thoughtful framework for wealth that may outlast one generation.
Long-term trusts can establish distribution rules and stewardship across generations. Generation-skipping transfer (GST) exemption allocation is a separate planning layer, with its own requirements. The GST exemption equals the basic exclusion amount under current federal law; it should not be confused with an automatic exemption for every trust distribution.[9]
Planning focus: Coordinate the trust term, beneficiaries, trustee succession, gift reporting, and GST allocations.
Give the wealth you have built a deliberate path forward.
Your business, investments, and real estate may keep growing. Put a transfer strategy around that growth while keeping your own financial needs in view. Concierge CFO compares suitable approaches, explains the tradeoffs, and helps you move forward with a plan you understand.
Grantor retained annuity trusts (GRATs)
Evaluate a structured way to transfer future appreciation.
A GRAT transfers assets to an irrevocable trust while the grantor retains a specified annuity for a term. Growth exceeding the valuation assumptions may pass to remainder beneficiaries with reduced gift-tax cost. Results depend on returns, payment compliance, valuation, and survival of the term; early death can cause estate inclusion.[10]
Planning focus: Appreciating assets, annuity cash flow, term selection, and downside scenarios.
Grantor retained unitrusts (GRUTs)
Compare a retained payment stream that moves with trust value.
A GRUT retains a payment based on a fixed percentage of the trust's value, recalculated annually. Unlike a GRAT's annuity, payments change with asset values. We compare the variable payment stream with your income needs and the intended remainder transfer.[10]
Planning tradeoff: Annual valuation work and a different allocation of growth between the grantor and beneficiaries.
Grantor retained income trusts (GRITs)
Get clarity on whether this specialized strategy fits your situation.
A GRIT retains trust income for a term, with the remainder passing to others. For many transfers benefiting family members, Internal Revenue Code §2702 values a nonqualified retained income interest at zero, undermining the expected gift-tax discount. GRITs therefore have narrower applications than their name may suggest, including certain nonfamily arrangements.[11]
Planning focus: Confirm whether the structure fits the actual beneficiary relationship before relying on a valuation benefit.
Qualified personal residence trusts (QPRTs)
Consider the future of a home that matters to your family.
A QPRT transfers a qualifying residence while retaining its use for a fixed term. Surviving the term can shift the residence to the intended beneficiaries; death during the retained term can cause estate inclusion. Continued occupancy afterward generally needs a properly structured arrangement, often involving fair-market rent.[12]
Planning focus: Housing plans, ownership costs, term risk, and post-transfer occupancy.
Sales to intentionally defective grantor trusts
Explore a coordinated approach to transferring appreciating assets.
An intentionally defective grantor trust (IDGT) is deliberately treated as owned by the grantor for income-tax purposes while targeting different transfer-tax treatment. A properly structured sale may exchange appreciating property for a note, shifting growth above the financing cost. Grantor status alone does not establish estate exclusion.[6]
Planning focus: Independent valuation, adequate trust resources, commercially supportable terms, actual note payments, and retained-control risks.
Asset freezes and preferred-interest structures
Plan deliberately for who benefits from the next stage of growth.
An estate freeze aims to retain a defined economic interest while shifting future appreciation. Approaches may include a sale for a note or an entity recapitalization using preferred and growth interests. Family-entity rules under §2701 can materially change gift valuation, so a nominal transfer price is not enough.[13]
Planning focus: Distinguish a transfer of future growth from a freeze of the asset's market value. Tax, debt, and retained-interest risks remain.
Compare estate-tax savings with capital-gains cost.
Lifetime transfers often carry the donor's tax basis. Assets retained until death may qualify for a basis adjustment under applicable rules. The IRS confirms that grantor-trust status alone does not create a basis step-up for completed-gift assets outside the grantor's gross estate. We model the combined tax outcome before recommending a transfer.[14]
Build a plan around your business, your assets, and your people.
Family LLCs, partnerships, and business succession
Give your business a succession plan your family can understand.
Coordinate voting rights, economic interests, successor management, and ownership transfers. We evaluate gifts or sales alongside operating agreements and buy-sell arrangements. Valuation discounts are not automatic, and retained enjoyment can create estate-tax exposure.[5] Trust ownership of S-corporation shares also requires eligibility and election review.[15]
Planning focus: Business continuity, owner cash flow, defensible valuation, and equal treatment of heirs who do and do not work in the business.
Real estate and concentrated holdings
Bring property and investment decisions into the estate plan.
Review rental properties, closely held interests, concentrated stock, and potential sale events in the estate model. We help quantify liquidity needs and flag transfer restrictions, lender requirements, homestead questions, and property-tax issues for the responsible specialists. Coordinate early when a sale is being considered.
Planning focus: Asset-by-asset decisions rather than moving every asset into the same structure.
Irrevocable life insurance trusts (ILITs)
Consider how insurance can support your family's future liquidity.
An ILIT can coordinate insurance proceeds with family support and estate liquidity. Ownership rights and existing-policy transfers are critical: a policy moved within three years of death may still be included in the insured's estate. Premium funding and trust administration also need ongoing attention.[1]
Planning focus: Coverage needs, premium capacity, trustee responsibilities, and access to liquidity without a forced asset sale.
Lifetime gifts and family funding
Make lifetime giving part of a sustainable family plan.
For 2026, the annual gift-tax exclusion is $19,000 per recipient for qualifying gifts. Larger gifts can require reporting and use lifetime exclusion without necessarily creating immediate gift tax. Direct qualifying tuition or medical payments follow separate rules. Gift-splitting, trust gifts, and prior transfers need individualized review.[16]
Planning focus: A documented giving plan that preserves your own financial resilience.
Charitable remainder trusts (CRTs)
Connect a charitable legacy with a planned income stream.
A CRT pays one or more noncharitable beneficiaries for life or a permitted term, with the remainder going to charity. It may provide a partial charitable deduction and defer recognition of gains through the trust structure. Beneficiary distributions retain tax character under ordering rules; this is not a blanket elimination of capital-gains tax.[17]
Planning focus: Genuine charitable intent, payout needs, appreciated assets, and administration.
Charitable lead trusts (CLTs)
Support causes you value while planning what passes to family.
A CLT pays charity first for a defined period, with the remainder eventually passing to family or other noncharitable beneficiaries. Grantor and non-grantor designs produce different income-tax consequences. Compare annuity and unitrust versions against your charitable goals and the assets expected to fund the remainder.[18]
Planning focus: Match philanthropy with the intended timing of family wealth transfers.
Special-needs and protected inheritances
Provide for a loved one with their needs and benefits in view.
A properly designed special-needs trust may support a beneficiary while preserving eligibility for means-tested benefits. Third-party and self-funded trusts have different rules, and distributions can affect benefits. A disability does not automatically mean a family member must be disinherited.[19]
Planning focus: Coordinate the inheritance, trustee selection, benefits, and long-term support plan through Concierge CFO, with our legal counsel involved as necessary.
Retirement-account inheritance planning
Make your retirement savings part of a thoughtful inheritance plan.
Many nonspouse beneficiaries face a ten-year distribution deadline, but exceptions and annual distribution requirements depend on the beneficiary and the owner's circumstances. Naming a trust adds another layer of rules. We compare spouse, individual, trust, and charitable beneficiary choices with the broader tax plan.[20]
Planning focus: Preserve intended beneficiaries while avoiding unnecessary income-tax acceleration.
Additional specialist coordination can address long-term-care and Medicaid planning, multistate estates, noncitizen spouses, international assets, and trust modification. Medicaid long-term-care planning has a five-year transfer look-back and state-specific exceptions; an irrevocable trust does not automatically establish eligibility or avoid estate recovery.[21] Creditor protection also depends on governing law and retained rights; it is not a universal feature of an irrevocable trust.[22]
You do not have to sort through every option alone.
Tell us what you want to resolve. Concierge CFO will help you identify an appropriate starting point and the steps needed to complete your agreed plan.
A clear process to help you get this milestone resolved.
Understand your priorities
Start with what matters most: the people you want to provide for, the wishes you want respected, and the decisions you want resolved. We help identify the information needed to begin.
Map the estate
Bring the pieces together. We help organize your assets, liabilities, entities, insurance, retirement accounts, beneficiaries, tax basis, and prior gifts into a working estate inventory.
Compare strategies
Make an informed choice. We compare appropriate options, explain the tax and cash-flow implications, and define the scope so you know what comes next.
Develop your estate plan
Concierge CFO manages the planning process and engages our legal counsel as necessary for document preparation, legal review, and implementation.
Track implementation
Move beyond signed documents. We track the agreed funding actions, account changes, valuations, elections, and tax-reporting responsibilities that help put your plan to work.
Review as life changes
Keep your plan aligned with your life. Arrange follow-up reviews after family changes, major gifts, business transactions, relocation, or changes in law.
Your engagement can include: an estate-planning review, strategy selection, coordinated documentation, an implementation checklist, and agreed tax-compliance support. Concierge CFO manages the services and uses our legal counsel as necessary. Your engagement will identify the documents, filings, implementation work, and ongoing support included in your service.
Estate-planning questions, answered.
Do I need both a will and a trust?
Often, a trust-based plan still includes a will. The decision depends on ownership, family needs, and state law. Concierge CFO helps you evaluate both options and coordinates the required documents, using our legal counsel as necessary.[3]
Is a revocable trust an estate-tax strategy?
It can be part of the plan, but revocability and retained control generally keep the assets in your estate. Probate avoidance and estate-tax reduction are different objectives.[4]
Is estate planning worthwhile below $15 million?
Yes. You may still need an incapacity plan, organized beneficiary designations, business succession, and a responsible structure for inheritances. Future appreciation and prior taxable gifts also matter when evaluating federal exposure.
Which strategy is best for a high-net-worth estate?
There is no single best structure. The right combination depends on growth, tax basis, family circumstances, liquidity, and how much access or control you are willing to give up. Our first step is comparison, not selecting a trust by its acronym.
Can an asset freeze remove all estate-tax exposure?
No. A freeze aims to shift future appreciation under a defined structure. Retained notes or preferred interests still have value, and transfer-tax rules, valuations, and actual administration affect the result.[13]
Does an irrevocable grantor trust receive a basis step-up?
Not merely because it is a grantor trust. The IRS has confirmed that completed-gift assets outside the grantor's gross estate do not receive a §1014 basis adjustment under the facts of Revenue Ruling 2023-2.[14]
Who will handle my estate plan?
Concierge CFO provides and manages your estate-planning services and remains your primary point of contact. We use our legal counsel as necessary for legal advice, document preparation, and other legal work. We can also coordinate with your financial advisor to align the plan with your investments and long-term goals.
What if I do not know where to start?
You can begin with your questions and a general picture of your family and assets. Concierge CFO helps identify the priorities and the information needed for the next step. You do not need to arrive knowing which documents or trusts to choose.
What should I bring to an initial discussion?
Existing wills and trusts, a current asset-and-debt summary, entity ownership information, beneficiary details, insurance policies, prior gift-tax returns, and your top family or business concerns. Sensitive documents should be exchanged through the agreed secure process.
How are fees determined?
A Will is $980, and a Revocable Living Trust is $1,740. The scope and included deliverables will be confirmed before engagement. All other service prices are listed as CALL. Contact Concierge CFO at 727-620-4030 to discuss your needs and receive a quote. Your agreed scope will identify the services and any additional costs before work begins.
Make this the milestone you move forward on today.
You have put time and effort into building your life. Take the next step toward a clear plan for the people and assets that matter to you. Start with a Will at $980, a Revocable Living Trust at $1,740, or call us to discuss a more advanced estate-planning strategy. Concierge CFO manages the process and uses our legal counsel as necessary.
Based in St. Petersburg. Serving clients in Tampa, across Florida, and in over 31 U.S. states.
Educational overview; strategy suitability and results depend on individual circumstances and applicable law. Concierge CFO provides and coordinates the estate-planning services described, engaging our legal counsel as necessary. Legal advice and legal-document preparation are performed by appropriately licensed counsel. Tax figures reviewed October 28, 2026.
Research and source notes
Primary government guidance, tax rules, and legal authorities inform this overview. The Florida Bar sources provide state-law and practitioner context.
- IRS • Form 706 instructions, July 2026. Exclusion, portability, estate-tax rates, insurance ownership and three-year rules.
- Florida Department of Revenue • Estate Tax.
- The Florida Bar • Do You Have a Will?.
- The Florida Bar • The Revocable Trust in Florida. Funding, probate, retained ownership and creditor considerations.
- 26 U.S.C. §2036. Estate inclusion for retained enjoyment or income rights.
- IRS • Trust income-tax rules and Revenue Ruling 85-13 discussion. Grantor ownership and disregarded owner/trust transactions; not approval of any particular estate-planning arrangement.
- IRS • Revenue Procedure 2016-49. QTIP elections, marital deduction and credit-shelter context.
- The Florida Bar • Designing Trust Systems for Florida Residents; United States v. Estate of Grace, 395 U.S. 316 (1969). Spousal trusts and reciprocal-trust doctrine.
- 26 U.S.C. §§2631–2632; IRS • Form 709 instructions. GST exemption allocation and reporting.
- 26 C.F.R. §25.2702-3; 26 C.F.R. §20.2036-1. GRAT/GRUT qualified interests and retained-term mortality risk.
- 26 U.S.C. §2702; 26 C.F.R. §25.2702-1. GRIT family-transfer valuation restrictions.
- 26 C.F.R. §25.2702-5. Personal residence trusts.
- 26 U.S.C. §2701. Special family-entity valuation rules.
- IRS • Revenue Ruling 2023-2. No basis adjustment merely from grantor-trust status when completed-gift assets are outside the gross estate.
- 26 C.F.R. §1.1361-1. S-corporation trust-shareholder rules.
- IRS • Frequently asked questions on gift taxes. Annual exclusion, reporting and direct tuition/medical payments.
- IRS • Charitable remainder trusts. Payouts, deductions and beneficiary taxation.
- IRS • Special types of trusts. Charitable lead trusts and other recognized trust types; page title is not a characterization of the legitimate structures described.
- SSA • POMS SI 01120.200; POMS SI 01120.203. Trust resources, third-party trusts and exceptions.
- IRS • Publication 590-B. Inherited retirement-account distributions and trusts as beneficiaries.
- Medicaid.gov • Eligibility Policy; Estate Recovery. Transfers, trust availability and recovery exceptions.
- The Florida Bar • Trust-system design and creditor limitations.