Patrick C. Emans

Patrick C. Emans is a Miami and Jacksonville attorney who serves as general counsel to wealthy individuals, their families and their businesses. Mr. Emans focuses his practice on domestic and international estate and tax planning, family office structuring, administration of complex estates and trusts, and trust and estates disputes. He also assists charitable organizations in obtaining and maintaining their tax-exempt status.

Designing Complex Plans for Ultra-High-Net-Worth Families. With an appreciation for family dynamics, Mr. Emans works with ultra-high-net-worth families in designing, creating and executing complex structures to accomplish their wealth preservation, wealth transfer and philanthropic goals.

Domestic Estate Planning. Mr. Emans counsels clients and their advisers on the implementation of sophisticated estate planning techniques designed to increase, maintain and transfer wealth in accordance with the client's intent. As part of this process, Mr. Emans creates estate plans and drafts a wide range of estate and tax planning instruments, including wills, revocable trusts, insurance trusts, dynastic trusts, grantor retained annuity trusts, charitable trusts and related instruments.

International Estate Planning. Mr. Emans represents clients living outside the United States, and assists them with pre-immigration planning, business succession planning, estate and trust administration, and family wealth preservation.

Family Offices. Pooling family assets into a family office offers several advantages, including access to investments that would otherwise be unavailable to certain family entities and individuals, centralization of asset management decisions and the resulting reduction of overall investment fees and potential creditor protection. Mr. Emans creates family offices, as well as advises clients with established family offices, to accomplish these goals and works with clients' other advisers to ensure the clients' objectives and goals are met.

Estate and Trust Administrations. Mr. Emans assists fiduciaries in the administration of complex estate and trust matters. With the goal of avoiding litigation, he helps fiduciaries establish policies and procedures for proper estate and trust administration. With respect to litigation from beneficiaries, creditors or co-fiduciaries, Mr. Emans represents fiduciaries in preparing for and responding to potential and actual claims. He also has experience in judicial and nonjudicial modifications and reformations of irrevocable trust provisions as a result of changes in circumstances or tax laws. Additionally, Mr. Emans also represents financial institutions as creditors in estate and trust administrations.

Business Succession Planning. Succession planning is an iterative process that requires close interaction between owners of privately held businesses and their advisors. Mr. Emans guides business owners in designing and implementing a succession plan that balances the current and future needs of the business and the owner. Mr. Emans routinely advises business owners on legal structures, tax issues and business succession planning with a focus on the family relationship issues that will impact the current and long-term viability of the business. He has experience in partnership, limited liability company and S corporation matters and interests in those entities being transferred to a trust or other structure.

Charitable Planning and Organizations. Mr. Emans provides charitable planning advice for donors and charities. He also has experience in representing donors and charitable organizations in the creation of charitable donation agreements. Mr. Emans also assists in the creation and proper administration of private foundations.

Prior to rejoining Holland & Knight, Mr. Emans served as in-house counsel for a large family office in Texas.