Estate Planning
What is Estate Planning?
Planning for the future isn't just about finances—it's about protecting the people you love. At Cooper | Coons, we help Nevada families create comprehensive estate plans that ensure your wishes are honored and your loved ones are cared for, no matter what happens.
Estate planning is the process of arranging for the management and transfer of your assets during your lifetime and after death. A solid estate plan minimizes taxes, avoids probate delays, and ensures your family isn't left with legal burdens during an already difficult time. Without a proper estate plan, Nevada state law decides how your assets are distributed—not you. This can lead to family disputes, lengthy court proceedings, and unnecessary expenses.
Revocable Living Trust
A revocable living trust is one of the most powerful estate planning tools available. Unlike a will, a living trust allows your assets to pass directly to your beneficiaries without going through probate. This means faster distribution, lower costs, and complete privacy for your family. You maintain full control of your assets during your lifetime and can modify the trust at any time.
Last Will & Testament
A last will is a foundational document that specifies how you want your assets distributed after death. It also allows you to name guardians for minor children and appoint an executor to manage your estate. Even if you have a trust, a "pour-over" will ensures any assets not transferred to your trust are still distributed according to your wishes.
Power of Attorney
A power of attorney designates someone you trust to make decisions on your behalf if you become incapacitated. We prepare two types: a Financial Power of Attorney, which allows your agent to manage your finances, pay bills, and handle business transactions; and a Healthcare Power of Attorney, which authorizes your agent to make medical decisions if you're unable to communicate your wishes.
Medical Directive / Living Will
A living will outlines your preferences for end-of-life medical care, including life support preferences, pain management, organ donation, and DNR orders. It ensures your wishes are followed if you're unable to speak for yourself, giving your family clarity during difficult moments.
Asset Protection
You've worked hard to build your wealth. At Cooper | Coons, we help you protect it. Our asset protection strategies shield your assets from lawsuits, creditors, and unexpected financial risks—legally and effectively.
What is Asset Protection?
Asset protection is a set of legal strategies designed to safeguard your wealth from potential creditors, lawsuits, and other financial threats. Nevada offers some of the strongest asset protection laws in the country, making it an ideal state for implementing these strategies. The key is to plan ahead—asset protection must be established before any claims arise.
Nevada Asset Protection Trust
Nevada is one of the few states that allows self-settled asset protection trusts. This means you can create a trust, fund it with your own assets, and still be a beneficiary—while protecting those assets from future creditors. Nevada's trust laws offer a short two-year statute of limitations, no state income tax, and strong privacy protections.
Limited Liability Company (LLC)
An LLC separates your personal assets from your business liabilities. If your business is sued, your personal home, savings, and other assets are generally protected. Nevada LLCs offer additional benefits including charging order protection, no state corporate income tax, and strong privacy laws that don't require disclosure of member names.
Premarital & Cohabitation Agreements
Protecting your assets before marriage is not unromantic—it's smart planning. A premarital agreement clearly defines separate property, protects family inheritances, and establishes financial expectations. For unmarried couples, a cohabitation agreement provides similar protections and clarity.
Separate Property Agreements
For married couples who didn't sign a prenup, a separate property agreement can still protect assets acquired before marriage or received as inheritance. This is especially important in community property states like Nevada.
Beneficiary Controlled Trust
Want to leave assets to your children but worried about their spending habits, divorce, or creditors? A beneficiary controlled trust allows your heirs to benefit from the trust while protecting the assets from their potential liabilities.
Intellectual Property
Your ideas have value. At Cooper | Coons, we help inventors, entrepreneurs, and creators protect their intellectual property through patents, trademarks, and copyrights.
What is Intellectual Property?
Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind—inventions, brand names, logos, artistic works, and trade secrets. IP protection gives you exclusive rights to use and profit from your creations, and the legal power to stop others from copying or stealing them.
Patents
A patent protects new inventions and gives you the exclusive right to make, use, and sell your invention for up to 20 years. Charles Coons is a registered patent attorney with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), with over a decade of experience helping inventors navigate the complex patent process. We handle utility patents for functional inventions, design patents for ornamental designs, and provisional patents to secure your filing date while you develop your product.
Trademarks & Servicemarks
Your brand is one of your most valuable assets. A trademark protects your business name, logo, slogan, or any symbol that identifies your goods or services. We conduct comprehensive trademark searches, file applications with the USPTO, and help you enforce your trademark rights against infringers.
Copyrights
Copyright protects original creative works including books, music, software, photographs, and videos. While copyright exists automatically upon creation, federal registration provides important benefits including the ability to sue for infringement and collect statutory damages. Charles Coons has filed over 300 copyright registrations and litigated more than 150 federal court cases for copyright infringement.
Family Law
Family legal matters are deeply personal. At Cooper | Coons, Rebecca Hopkins Miller leads our Family Law Department with over 35 years of experience helping Las Vegas families navigate divorce, custody, and other domestic relations matters with compassion and expertise.
Our Approach to Family Law
We believe that not every family dispute needs to end in a courtroom battle. While we are experienced litigators who will fight for your rights when necessary, we also offer mediation and collaborative divorce options that can save time, money, and emotional stress for everyone involved—especially children.
Divorce & Dissolution
Whether contested or uncontested, we guide you through every step of the divorce process. We handle property division, spousal support, debt allocation, and all related issues. Our goal is to achieve a fair outcome while minimizing conflict and protecting your interests.
Collaborative Divorce
Rebecca Miller is one of only approximately 25 attorneys in Nevada trained as a Collaborative Divorce Law Practitioner. In collaborative divorce, both parties commit to resolving issues through negotiation rather than litigation. This approach is often faster, less expensive, and less emotionally damaging than traditional divorce.
Mediation
As a trained mediator, Rebecca helps couples reach agreements on divorce terms, custody arrangements, and other family matters. Mediation puts you in control of the outcome rather than leaving decisions to a judge.
Child Custody & Support
Nothing is more important than your children. We help you establish custody arrangements that serve your children's best interests while protecting your parental rights. We handle both initial custody determinations and modifications when circumstances change.
Prenuptial & Postnuptial Agreements
Planning ahead protects both parties. We draft clear, enforceable agreements that define property rights and financial expectations, helping couples start their marriage with transparency and understanding.
Adoption & Termination of Parental Rights
Building a family through adoption is a joyful process, but the legal requirements can be complex. We guide you through stepparent adoptions, private adoptions, and termination of parental rights proceedings.
Tax Planning
Taxes can significantly erode your wealth—but with the right planning, they don't have to. At Cooper | Coons, we combine legal expertise with accounting knowledge to create tax-efficient strategies that preserve more of your assets for you and your family.
What is Tax Planning?
Tax planning is the strategic arrangement of your financial affairs to minimize tax liability—legally. This includes estate taxes, gift taxes, generation-skipping transfer taxes, and income taxes. Effective tax planning requires understanding both the legal structures available and the tax implications of each decision.
Our Unique Advantage
Jeremy Cooper is both a licensed attorney and a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) with a Master's Degree in Taxation. This rare combination allows us to see opportunities that other law firms miss and create integrated strategies that optimize both legal protection and tax efficiency.
Legacy Trusts
A legacy trust allows you to transfer assets to future generations while minimizing estate and gift taxes. Properly structured, these trusts can protect assets for multiple generations while taking advantage of your lifetime gift tax exemption.
ABC Trusts
Also known as marital trusts, ABC trusts help married couples maximize their combined estate tax exemptions. This structure can effectively double the amount you can pass to heirs tax-free.
Family Limited Partnerships (FLP) & Family LLCs (FLLC)
These entities allow you to transfer business interests or investments to family members at a discounted value for gift tax purposes. They also provide asset protection and centralized management of family assets.
Spousal Access Trusts (SPAT)
A SPAT allows you to remove assets from your taxable estate while still providing indirect access to those assets through your spouse. This is particularly useful for married couples who want to reduce estate taxes but aren't ready to completely give up access to their wealth.
Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts (ILIT)
Life insurance proceeds are generally income tax-free, but they're included in your taxable estate. An ILIT removes the insurance from your estate, potentially saving your heirs hundreds of thousands in estate taxes.
Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts (GRAT)
A GRAT allows you to transfer appreciating assets to your heirs with minimal gift tax consequences. You receive annuity payments for a set term, and whatever remains passes to your beneficiaries tax-free.
Qualified Personal Residence Trusts (QPRT)
A QPRT lets you transfer your home to your children at a reduced gift tax value while continuing to live in it for a specified period. This is an excellent way to pass real estate to the next generation tax-efficiently.
Charitable Remainder Trusts (CRT)
If you have charitable intentions, a CRT can provide you with income during your lifetime, a charitable deduction now, and a legacy gift to your favorite charity—all while reducing your taxable estate.
Nevada Intentionally Defective Non-Grantor Trust (NING)
For high-income individuals in high-tax states, a NING trust can help reduce state income taxes by shifting income to Nevada, which has no state income tax. This complex strategy requires careful implementation but can result in significant tax savings.
Probate & Guardianship
Losing a loved one is difficult enough without the added stress of legal proceedings. At Cooper | Coons, we guide families through the probate process with compassion and efficiency, helping you settle estates and establish guardianships when needed.
What is Probate?
Probate is the court-supervised process of validating a will, paying debts, and distributing assets after someone dies. In Nevada, probate is required when a deceased person owned assets solely in their name without a designated beneficiary. The process can take several months to over a year, depending on the complexity of the estate.
Probate in Nevada
Nevada offers several probate procedures depending on the size and complexity of the estate. We help you determine which process applies and guide you through every step—from filing the initial petition to final distribution of assets.
Affidavit of Entitlement
For smaller estates (under $25,000 in personal property or $100,000 in real property), Nevada allows a simplified process using an Affidavit of Entitlement. This avoids formal probate and allows heirs to collect assets more quickly.
Regular Administration
For larger or more complex estates, full probate administration is required. We handle all aspects including inventorying assets, notifying creditors, paying valid debts, filing tax returns, and distributing assets to beneficiaries according to the will or Nevada law.
What is Guardianship?
Guardianship is a legal arrangement where a court appoints someone to make decisions for a person who cannot make decisions for themselves—either a minor child or an incapacitated adult.
Guardianship of the Person
A guardian of the person makes decisions about daily care, living arrangements, medical treatment, and education. This is common when parents pass away or become unable to care for their children, or when elderly adults can no longer care for themselves.
Guardianship of the Estate
A guardian of the estate manages the financial affairs and assets of the protected person. This includes paying bills, managing investments, and making financial decisions in the person's best interest.
Guardianship in Nevada
Nevada guardianship proceedings require court approval and ongoing oversight. We help families navigate the petition process, court hearings, and annual reporting requirements. We also help families explore less restrictive alternatives when appropriate, such as powers of attorney or supported decision-making arrangements.
Avoiding Probate
The best probate strategy is often to avoid it entirely. Through proper estate planning—including living trusts, beneficiary designations, and joint ownership arrangements—we can help your family avoid the time, expense, and public nature of probate. If you haven't yet done estate planning, we can help you put a plan in place to protect your family's future.
LLC Formation
Starting a business is exciting—but choosing the wrong structure can expose you to unnecessary risk and taxes. At Cooper | Coons, we help entrepreneurs and business owners form LLCs that protect their personal assets and set them up for success.
What is an LLC?
A Limited Liability Company (LLC) is a business structure that combines the liability protection of a corporation with the tax flexibility of a partnership. As an LLC owner, your personal assets—your home, savings, and personal property—are generally protected from business debts and lawsuits.
Why Nevada for Your LLC?
Nevada is consistently ranked as one of the best states for LLC formation. Here's why:
No state corporate income tax. No franchise tax. No personal income tax. Strong charging order protection—creditors of an LLC member generally cannot seize LLC assets. Privacy protections—Nevada doesn't require disclosure of member or manager names in public filings. Business-friendly courts with established LLC case law.
Limited Liability Company
A standard Nevada LLC is ideal for most small businesses, real estate investments, and professional practices. We handle all formation documents including Articles of Organization, Operating Agreement, and initial resolutions. We also advise on management structure, member rights, and tax elections.
Restricted LLC
A Restricted LLC is a special Nevada entity designed for estate planning and asset protection. It includes mandatory restrictions on distributions and transfers, making it difficult for creditors to reach the assets inside. This structure is particularly useful for holding family investments or real estate.
Series LLC
A Series LLC allows you to create multiple "series" or divisions within a single LLC, each with its own assets, liabilities, and members. This is ideal for real estate investors who want to hold multiple properties—each property can be in its own series, protected from liabilities of the other properties, all within one LLC structure.
Our LLC Formation Process
We don't just file paperwork—we make sure your LLC is properly structured for your specific needs.
Step 1: We discuss your business goals, liability concerns, and tax situation. Step 2: We recommend the right LLC structure and state of formation. Step 3: We prepare and file all formation documents. Step 4: We create a customized Operating Agreement that addresses management, distributions, and exit strategies. Step 5: We advise on ongoing compliance requirements and annual filings.
Beyond Formation
Forming an LLC is just the beginning. To maintain your liability protection, you need to operate your LLC properly—keeping business and personal finances separate, maintaining proper records, and following your Operating Agreement. We provide ongoing guidance to help you maintain your LLC's legal protections.
