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Fred D. Essig, Attorney at Law

AFFORDABLE ESTATE PLANNING & BUSINESS LAW FOR ALL OF UTAH

Fred Essig is a Utah attorney whose practice is focused in estate planning, business law, and resolving will and trust disputes. He has 27 years of experience in these areas.

Practice Areas

Estate Planning

Estate planning is the process of writing and signing instructions of what to do with your assets when you die or become incapacitated. It usually involves a will and trust and often other documents that will accomplish many things. It also involves naming the correct owner and beneficiary of every asset. A good estate planning attorney will enlighten you on many things you are unaware of and had not even thought of. He will also write documents that carry out your wishes and instruct you on naming the correct owner and beneficiary of each asset.

When do I need a will or estate planning?

You need a will or estate planning if you have enough assets that you care about what happens to them when you die or become incapacitated. Examples might be a home, life insurance, or a business. You also need planning if you have a child under age 18 so that you can name their guardian if you die. Estate planning is extremely helpful in a second or later marriage with children from a prior marriage to resolve who receives your assets at death. If you own over $5 million of assets, estate planning can greatly reduce or eliminate taxes at death.

Do I need a will and a trust?

Nearly everyone who owns significant assets or has a child under age 18 needs a will. It will name the manager (personal representative) of your estate at death and instruct what to do with the assets of your estate. It will also name the guardian of children under age 18. Most people also choose to have a trust in addition to a will in order to avoid probate, manage assets in the best way if incapacity arises, and have assets managed after death on behalf of children who are too young or on behalf of grandchildren through a deceased child.

What is probate and why should I avoid it?

Probate is the process of filing papers in court to have a judge name who can sign for you and manage your estate when you die. It may also include asking the judge to rule that a document is your last will. Most people seek to avoid it by having a living trust that will reduce costs at death, provide more rapid access to assets at death, and keep the provisions of their will from being a public record that anyone can look at.

What happens to my children and my assets when I pass away?

When you pass away, your assets will pass to those you have named through joint tenancy ownership, beneficiary designations, your will, and your trust. If you have no will or trust, then the State will decide who will receive some of your assets. When you pass away, your children who are under age 18 will be cared for by their other parent or, if this parent has died or renounces their rights, then a guardian needs to be appointed by a judge to care for them.

Do I need to worry about estate or inheritance taxes at death?

If you own no assets outside of Utah and are a U.S. citizen, then you do not need to worry about estate or inheritance taxes at death under current law unless the total value of all of your assets and your spouse’s assets exceeds $5,340,000. However, listen on the news for any changes to this since Congress has made numerous changes in this dollar limit. If you own assets outside of Utah, you or your attorney should verify what amount of assets are subject to taxes at death where your assets are located. If you are not a U.S. citizen, much smaller amounts can be subject to taxes at death in the United States.

Business Law

Small Businesses are subject to many laws. A good attorney can help you comply with these laws and benefit from them. They can help you create the best legal entity in which to do business in order to minimize income taxes, shield from lawsuits, and provide the best management structure. They can help you maintain your legal entity after creation and guide you in responding to all legal matters such as contracts, asserting claims, real estate transactions, and protecting your business' creations and structure.

Fred's business law practice is focused in selection and creation of business entities, guiding on maintaining your legal entity, buy-sell and other agreements among owners, succession planning for future owners, and sale or dissolution of business entities. He can also guide you to attorneys in specialized legal areas such as intellectual property, employment law, and commercial litigation.

These services can reduce income taxes and employment taxes as well as avoid penalties, exposures and headaches from failure to comply with the law. They will also reduce the likelihood of lawsuits against the business and provide shields from them. Fred's services will put the right people in charge of your business now and in the future and help avoid disagreements among owners.

Will Disputes

Occasionally someone will legally challenge what another person wrote in their estate plan. In addition, sometimes after parents pass away, one child will try to improperly control the administration and distribution of their parents' assets. In these situations, a good attorney is needed to defend the estate plan and resolve disputes among the children.

Fred's law practice focuses first on trying to structure each person's estate plan so as to minimize later disputes. His plans also include provisions to help validate the documents if attacked. If a dispute arises, Fred will first try to resolve it informally among family members. If this is not possible, he will defend the estate plan through mediation and all aspects of litigation. He also serves as a formal mediator of will and trust disputes between family members. All of these services help keep peace among family members and minimize losses and costs that reduce a person's assets.

About Fred Essig

Fred has done estate planning and business law in Utah for numerous clients with small to very large estates for 27 years and has assisted in resolving many will and trust disputes.

Fred graduated from Utah State University in Business Administration and then obtained a law degree at J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University. He then clerked for Justice Dallin H. Oaks on the Utah Supreme Court for one year. Following this, he worked for 15 years as the primary estate planner at one of Utah’s largest law firms, Kirton & McConkie. He then left this firm to form a smaller more specialized estate planning firm.

Education & Experience

• Attorneys surveyed in Utah have ranked Fred as "very high to preeminent" in legal ability and ethics in Martindale-Hubbell and as one of Utah's top estate planning attorneys in Utah Business magazine
• Served as Chair of the Estate Planning Section of the Utah State Bar, as Chair of the Estate Planning Council of Northern Utah, and on the Board of the Salt Lake Estate Planning Council
• Has given many lectures to other estate planning attorneys and others about estate planning
• At BYU Law School, he was named a J. Reuben Clark Scholar, Order of the Coif, Cum Laude, and in the top 10% of his class. Received an American Jurisprudence Award, Scholarly Legal Writing Award, and served as a Law Review Note and Comment Editor
• At USU College of Business, he was designated Co-Valedictorian, Magna Cum Laude, and College of Business Scholar of the Year.

Personal Life

Fred loved serving as a Scoutmaster for the Boy Scouts, as a youth soccer coach for 15 years, and in numerous capacities for his Church, including mission president in Chile. He is currently an avid mountain biker, hiker, and swimmer. His favorite activity of all is being a father and grandfather.