Practice Areas
Caswell | Legal provides customized counseling and professional services in the areas of wealth planning and estate administration, business transactions, and real estate sales and related issues. From our office in Sarasota, we serve clients on the Gulf Coast and throughout the entire State of Florida in the following areas:
Wealth Planning and Estate Administration
We prepare individually tailored estate planning documents designed to accomplish the goals of our client, avoid probate administration, and minimize any transfer tax consequences. We take a comprehensive approach to estate planning, investing the time necessary to understand our client's family dynamics, planning objectives, and financial affairs. We carefully consider income, gift, estate and generation-skipping transfer tax consequences, and provide a plan in the event our client becomes incapacitated or disabled. We strive to enhance creditor protection and management of family assets. We work closely with the client's advisors, including their financial planner and accountant, to ensure the estate plan comports with our client's wealth planning strategy and to coordinate beneficiary designations to assets such as retirement benefits and life insurance with the overall estate plan.
Wills & Trusts - We prepare wills, revocable living trusts, irrevocable trusts, durable powers of attorney, health care powers of attorney, living wills, and other ancillary documents.
Probate & Trust Administration - We have extensive experience in the area of probate administration, and have the experience and knowledge required to handle probate matters involving estates of all sizes and complexities, ranging from simple estates to large estates comprised of business interests, real estate and assets located in more than one state.
We offer complete post-mortem trust administration services, including post-death tax planning; advice regarding the trustee's fiduciary duties, powers and obligations; preparation of the documents necessary to effectuate the transfer of assets to the beneficiaries; and assistance in the preparation of decedent estate tax returns.
Asset Protection - We advise clients regarding asset protection and wealth preservation strategies, including limited partnerships designed to keep family assets in the family, provide for management of family assets, and to transfer family assets on a tax-favorable basis. We also advise our clients regarding the use of Limited Liability Companies (LLCs), business protection involving the use of corporate entities, multi-generational dynasty trusts, and irrevocable trusts.
Business Succession Planning - Many of our clients own family or closely-held businesses and are contemplating retirement or the sale of the business. In addition to negotiating and preparing buy-sell agreements and other instruments, we formulate tax saving strategies for the sale of a business, utilizing planning techniques such as gifts of fractionalized interests, including sales to Intentionally Defective Grantor Trusts (IDGTs).
Business Law
At Caswell | Legal, we work to ensure that all of your business transactions are concluded properly, with your interests appropriately represented and your rights suitably protected. We provide complete business representation, including assistance with selecting the appropriate business entity, business formation, contract and transactional work, purchase and sales agreements, and intellectual property protection.
Entity Formation and Maintenance- Selecting the appropriate type of entity for a new business endeavor is an important decision. Different entities offer varying levels of liability protection and different methods of tax treatment for the business and its owners. Issues of management, control, and transfer are also implicated. We assist our clients in selecting the right entity to meet their needs and prepare all necessary documentation to form the new entity. We form entities including C Corporations, S Corporations, Limited Partnerships (LP), Limited Liability Companies (LLC), and professional organizations. We also assist our business owners with the ongoing maintenance of their entities. See our separate page for our BizCare® services for more details.
Transactions - We negotiate, draft, and review all types of documents, from employment and sales contracts to licenses and rights agreements. We also assist business owners in the negotiation and sale or purchase of businesses and business assets.
Intellectual Property - We assist businesses with patent, trademark, or copyright issues, including necessary clearance searches, and preparation and prosecution of applications. We also advise and counsel clients on the necessary steps to protect trade secrets and other confidential information. Please note that we are NOT registered patent attorneys, so we refer clients to co-counsel for patent application and registration services.
Real Estate
Regardless of the type of business you are in, buying, selling, financing, or leasing real estate is likely to be involved in some aspect of your operations. We assist clients in contract and lease negotiations and preparations and perform all closing and title insurance-related services for a wide range of commercial and residential real estate transactions.
Closings - As closing agent, we help consummate residential and commercial transactions quickly and efficiently. We hold escrow deposits in our trust accounts, work closely with lenders, realtors, and mortgage brokers to coordinate document signings, order payoffs and schedule surveys and inspections, and coordinate loan document signing and payoffs. We also serve as closing agent for business sales of assets.
Title Insurance - As a licensed agent for Attorneys Title Insurance Fund and Old Republic Title Services, firm founder Christopher Caswell offers all types of title insurance and provides reissue credit whenever possible based on Florida's promulgated rates.
Condominiums - We help with the entire process of condominium and subdivision projects, drafting articles, bylaws, and declarations for condominium associations and homeowner associations; working closely with architects and surveyors; handling the filings with the state; and utilizing our experience and skill in business entity formation to establish the association's business status.
Contracts & Leases - We handle all types of agreements for commercial and residential transactions, including purchase agreements, options, leasebacks, and a variety of related documentation. We work closely with our clients to ensure that all contracts are customized to their needs and effectively protect their interests.
Short Sales & Workouts - In an era of increasing foreclosures and bankruptcies, we marshal all the tools at our disposal to help people in distress find the best solution in their particular circumstances. Whether desiring to stay in the home or walk away, we counsel clients on their options and help them complete a transaction that puts them in the best position to move forward with their credit rating intact. We also join with co-counsel or refer clients to outside counsel for litigation related matters such as foreclosure defense and bankruptcy filings.
From our office in Sarasota, we provide exceptional legal representation to individual and corporate clients all along the Gulf Coast and statewide. Contact Caswell | Legal to schedule a consultation to discuss your legal needs with an experienced and qualified attorney.
