Overview
Whether a family office is long-established, newly contemplated, or not yet needed, Gunster provides sophisticated legal counsel tailored to our clients’ objectives. From early-stage planning through implementation and ongoing operation, our team provides the strategic legal partnership essential to protecting and advancing multigenerational legacy.
Gunster serves as the epicenter of legal affairs for high-net-worth individuals, their families and various enterprises. We are the constant in our clients’ lives, advising through evolving business needs and bridging generational transitions. Our deep institutional knowledge and industry expertise—fortified by long-standing local, national and international relationships—reflect more than a century of experience, refined to meet the demands of the future.
Our attorneys serve as trusted advisors, managing the legal needs of families and their enterprises across Florida, nationally, and internationally. We provide a full spectrum of legal services for family-owned or controlled operating businesses, family offices, investment vehicles, foundations, philanthropic initiatives, and the families themselves. By investing the time to understand each client's priorities and long-term goals, we assemble tailored teams equipped to advise on tax strategy, investments, confidentiality, day-to-day operations, and wealth planning—delivering integrated guidance that recognizes how decisions in one area influence the whole picture.
Our services include:
Wealth Planning & Asset Protection
- Establishing domicile in Florida
- Designing estate plans for family members
- Structuring, implementing and administering estates and trusts
- Guiding multigenerational wealth planning and business succession
- Advising on transfer tax and generation‑skipping transfer strategies
- Structuring ownership and preservation vehicles for specialty assets, including art, collectibles, cryptocurrency, precious metals, private placement life insurance, automobiles, and aircraft
- Advising on Florida homestead planning, including exemption qualification, titling and devising considerations
Tax Strategy & Structuring
- Providing federal and state income tax planning
- Advising on multi‑jurisdictional domestic and international tax matters
- Designing gift and estate tax strategies
- Structuring private investments and liquidity events for tax efficiency
- Advising on Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS) planning
- Representing clients in tax controversy and litigation matters
Family Office Formation & Support
- Structuring and re-structuring of single-family offices
- Forming private trust companies or entities
- Supporting family-owned and family-controlled enterprises by advising on structure, governance, and day-to-day operations
- Facilitating family meetings, including educational sessions and family retreats
Real Estate & Specialty Assets
- Handling acquisition, leasing, financing and sale of commercial, residential, investment, and business properties
- Reviewing environmental due diligence, title requirements, and survey
- Managing 1031 exchanges
- Advising on zoning, land‑use approvals, and permitting matters
- Negotiating construction, architectural engineering, and design contracts
- Structuring qualified opportunity zone fund investments
- Advising on aircraft, art, collectibles and other specialty asset purchases, and sale transactions
Investment Support
- Advising on deployment of capital across private equity, hedge fund, co-investments, minority investments, and control acquisitions
- Providing regulatory advice across industries
- Advising on M&A, capital raising and exit planning aligned with family goals
- Advising on investment exit strategies, board liability, bankruptcy, and lien priority disputes
- Structuring and maintaining corporate entities and holding companies
- Conducting investment-related due diligence and negotiating agreements
- Establishing investment committees and investment policies, including sustainable and impact investing (ESG investing) approaches
- Implementing coordinated family investments strategies
Day-to-Day Business Support
- Protecting confidentiality in ownership, contractual negotiations, online privacy, cybersecurity, and employment arrangements
- Implementing employment policies and providing human-resources guidance
- Advising on labor, immigration and employment counsel for family enterprises and domestic staff
- Advising on executive compensation, employee benefits, and ERISA matters
- Pre-sale planning and business structuring
- Handling equity and debt refinancing and dividend recapitalizations
- Establishing dividend policies, family and executive compensation, and contracting frameworks
Philanthropy & Nonprofit Organizations
- Creating and supporting private foundations and donor‑advised funds
- Structuring charitable trusts
- Developing and implementing family philanthropic strategies
- Advising on foundation governance, compliance, and grantmaking policies
International Private Client Services
- Establishing international family offices, governance, and international trust and fiduciary structures to effectuate the private and tax-efficient transfer of international wealth
- International tax and estate planning for non-U.S. families with U.S. beneficiaries and assets
- Solving complex cross-border tax issues for global families with a connection to the U.S.
- Advising on M&A for international acquisitions and dispositions of U.S. companies
- Assisting non-U.S. clients who are making investments in U.S. real estate or other inbound U.S. investments
- Pre-residency planning for non-U.S. clients seeking to relocate to the U.S. and planning for U.S. persons seeking to expatriate from the U.S.
- Developing and implementing efficient succession mechanisms for multinational families using trusts and holding company structures
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Experience
Our multidisciplinary team combines deep experience, backed by more than 300 attorneys across 30+ practice areas, with a global reach to serve clients wherever they live, invest or do business.
Combining technical excellence with a nuanced understanding of family dynamics, we work across disciplines to deliver coordinated, discreet and exceptional forward-focused counsel with built-in flexibility to adapt as our clients’ needs or goals change.
Comprehensive Legal Services Worldwide
Gunster participates in several international and global networks to guide our clients to best-in-class legal counsel and an understanding of the complexities and risks of cross-border dealings. We are members of the World Law Group, the Employment Law Alliance and Global Law, international networks which connect us with law firms in over 90 countries around the world.
Our experience is as diverse as the business coming in and out of Florida. We represent clients moving goods, services, people and capital both outbound in search of non-U.S. markets, and inbound in search of the opportunities offered by Florida and the U.S.
