Dena has over 10 years experience in estate planning and estate/trust administration, along with experience in general business and corporate law.
Estate Planning: Dena drafts estate planning documents such as wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and other supporting documentation. She attends client meetings with attorneys and works with clients to assist with funding of trusts. She contacts financial advisors, trust companies, banks and insurance companies to obtain and complete documents necessary to retitle assets owned. She drafts deeds for re-titling of real estate, along with preparing stock certificates for closely held corporate stock, and other re-titling documentation. She assists with gathering information for determination of annual gift tax return and record keeping requirements.
Estate/Trust Administration: Dena meets with attorneys and clients to gather initial information and identify probate versus non-probate assets. She drafts documents to commence probate proceedings, calendaring filing dates and publishing requirements and prepares other documents as needed, including the statement of accounts. She acts as a liaison between the attorney and the Probate Court in filing documents and fulfilling Court requirements. She coordinates with out-of-state attorneys to commence ancillary proceedings, if necessary. Along with the attorney she makes a preliminary analysis of estate tax return requirements and drafts tax returns where required. She arranges and coordinates with appraisers for any appraisals necessary. She files life insurance claims, prepares documentation necessary to sell or transfer probate and non-probate assets, along with identifying and valuing trust assets to coordinate transfer of assets into downstream trusts.
Corporate/Business: Dena coordinates and prepares audit response letters, including assistance with drafting summaries of pending or threatened litigation relating to firm clients. She assembles and maintains transactional closing files and participates in closing and post-closing activities. She drafts entity creation documents and maintains corporate records including the preparation of annual minutes and stock ledgers. She researches and prepares required documents to register entities in various states and coordinates annual state and taxing authority reporting requirements.