Stefan Dunkelgrun helps clients prepare for the inevitable, ensuring that their assets transfer to the people they want in the most efficient manner.  He provides advice on how best to ensure that clients’ families are protected by tailoring estate planning solutions to the individual needs and concerns.

Stefan has comprehensive experience in high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth estate planning and is seasoned in developing intergenerational plans, drafting complex trusts, business succession planning,  tax reduction strategies, and asset protection solutions.  He regularly evaluates existing trusts – guiding clients when breaking irrevocable trusts, decanting, merging, and more.

Prior to joining the firm, he was a Partner in a New York City law firm, and was previously the lead practice attorney of Wills, Trusts and Estates at a Florida-based law firm.  Prior to his law career, Stefan specialized in strategy, risk management, finance, operations and portfolio servicing. For nearly a decade, Stefan served in multiple roles for the Ibex Group, a wealth management solutions provider for high-net individuals and families, where he specialized in sophisticated estate planning solutions, offshore investment structures and advanced insurance solutions.  Stefan also has significant experience with start-ups, from key employee to executive leadership, new business ventures and product launches – the most successful of which – resulted in over a billion dollars of business within 12 months.

REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS

Each matter handled by Stefan depends on its unique facts and particular legal circumstances. The following are a list of results obtained by Stefan on behalf of his clients:

  • Restructured business and ownership interests for a married couple to obtain a 32% valuation discount, allowing them to transfer their $35 million estate utilizing the current elevated estate tax exemptions, saving an estimated $8 million in federal estate tax
  • Arranged for a client’s emerging business opportunities to occur outside of his estate, so that any potential growth will not be subject to estate tax
  • Provided advice on how to defer $50 million+ in federal estate taxes for noncitizen client
  • Prepared a complex arrangement for two business partners with intertwined finances in a high-risk industry to provide asset protection and to minimize the estate tax for a series of closely held businesses
  • Provided business succession planning that included long-term buyout for the successor while ensuring the other heirs receive an equitable share
  • Helped a client who was the beneficiary of seven separate trusts to consolidate and reorganize into two streamlined entities to simplify management of the portfolio

*Results may vary depending on your particular facts and legal circumstances.

Practice Areas

Education

  • Fordham University School of Law, J.D., 2015
  • Fordham University, Gabelli School of Business, M.B.A., Finance 2007
  • University of Bolton, UK, B.A., Creative Writing and English Literature, 2003

Bar and Court Admissions

  • Florida
  • Minnesota
  • New Jersey
  • New York
  • U.S. Tax Court