Estate and legacy planning at K&K is coordinated strategy first, legal documents second. K&K quarterbacks the decisions across your tax, wealth, risk, and business disciplines, then hands credentialed attorneys a clean blueprint to draft against. The documents are the output of the strategy, not a substitute for it.
Estate planning is the process of deciding how your assets are managed, protected, and transferred during your lifetime and after death. The legal documents (wills, trusts, powers of attorney, healthcare directives) are the visible output. The decisions behind them, who gets what, when, under what tax treatment, and how it interacts with the rest of your financial life, are the actual work.
K&K's role inside that work is the layer above the specialists. The estate attorney drafts the documents. Your CPA files the returns. Your wealth manager runs the portfolio. K&K is the team that keeps all three running the same playbook so a smart estate decision doesn't quietly break a tax position, and a good investment move doesn't accidentally undo a buy-sell agreement.
For first-generation wealth builders typically earning $500K and up, the gap between
"I have a will" and "I have a coordinated estate plan"
Is where most of the leakage happens. A will drafted at age 35 doesn't know about the equity comp, the rental property, the operating company, the second marriage, or the estate value that crossed the lifetime exemption threshold somewhere along the way.
Estate documents drafted in isolation will be technically correct and strategically wrong. A few of the patterns we see most often:
These aren't attorney mistakes. They're coordination mistakes. The attorney drafts what the client asks for; nobody is asking on behalf of the full picture. That's the seat K&K fills.
Three interconnected practice areas live under this hub. Each runs through the same coordination model: K&K designs the strategy, partner attorneys execute the legal documents, your CPA stays in the loop, and your wealth manager keeps the portfolio aligned with the plan.
Wills, powers of attorney, healthcare directives, beneficiary review, and the strategic decisions that make those documents work as a system. This is where most clients start, and where the biggest fixable mistakes hide. Read the full estate planning page for what's included and how the strategy gets built.
Revocable living trusts, irrevocable trusts, special needs trusts, charitable trusts, and the more advanced structures (ILITs, dynasty trusts, SLATs) that sit at the intersection of estate planning and tax mitigation. The vehicle has to match the goal; the goal has to match the rest of the plan. The trust planning page walks through how each type fits.
Donor-advised funds, charitable remainder trusts, charitable lead trusts, private foundations, and qualified charitable distributions. Most high-earning families give. Few of them give in the structure that captures the deduction efficiently or compounds the gift over time. The charitable giving page covers the structures and when each fits.
You keep your estate attorney; we work alongside them. If you don't have one, our vetted Virtual Family Office network includes credentialed estate attorneys we can introduce you to. K&K does not draft legal documents and does not provide legal advice. Partner attorneys do that work, in their licensed capacity.
What K&K does, before any document gets drafted, is design the strategy. That includes coordinating with your existing CPA on gift, estate, and step-up basis planning; running the estate decisions against the advanced tax planning calendar so action happens before December 31; pulling wealth management into the conversation so investment decisions match the legacy plan; and bringing business advisory into the room when there's an operating company in the estate. Inside our Virtual Family Office model, the estate plan stops being a binder you sign and put on a shelf and becomes a living document that updates as your life and the tax code change.
For families with significant insurance exposure, risk mitigation (life insurance structured through ILITs, long-term care, business protection coverage) usually belongs inside the estate conversation, not as a separate transaction with a different agent.
Estate planning is the process of arranging how your assets are managed, protected, and distributed during your lifetime and after you're gone. It covers the legal documents (wills, trusts, powers of attorney, healthcare directives) and the strategy behind them: how assets are titled, how taxes are minimized, who decides what, and how the plan stays current as your life and the law change.
Four show up the most. Not having a plan at all. Failing to update beneficiary designations after marriage, divorce, or a new child (the form beats the will). Not coordinating the estate plan with the tax plan, so gift, basis, and exemption strategies get missed. And relying on a will alone when a trust would have avoided probate, protected assets, or captured a planning opportunity.
A coordinated team, not just an attorney. The attorney drafts the documents, the CPA files the returns, the wealth manager runs the portfolio, and someone has to keep all three working from the same plan. That's the role K&K plays. We design the strategy, then bring partner attorneys into the room to execute.
No. An estate planner focuses on how assets transfer at death and during incapacity. A financial planner focuses on building and managing wealth during your lifetime. Most families need both, and most families have them operating in separate silos. K&K's Virtual Family Office model coordinates the two so the decisions on each side match.
Under federal law, certain gifts (most commonly life insurance policies) transferred within three years of death can be pulled back into the taxable estate. Proactive planning accounts for this timeline so transfers happen far enough ahead to be effective. It's one of several federal timing rules a coordinated plan tracks alongside the lifetime gift and estate tax exemption.
or call (804) 372-8307. We're based in Richmond, Virginia, and serve families across all 50 states.
Important disclosure: Kotini & Kotini does not provide legal advice and does not draft legal documents. Estate planning legal services are provided by credentialed partner attorneys operating in their licensed capacity. K&K coordinates the strategy across tax, wealth, risk, and business plans. See our disclosures page for the full description of the coordination model and partner relationships.
