Bruce Mertens chairs the firm's Estate & Tax Planning practice group.  With over 25 years of estate planning and administration experience, Bruce has helped hundreds of families across Virginia protect and preserve their estates.

He advises clients of the gift, estate and income tax consequences of their dispositive arrangements and the methods available to efficiently transfer assets to beneficiaries and reduce potential estate or gift taxes, including:

• Wills and Revocable Living Trusts
• Irrevocable Trusts
• Estate Planning with Life Insurance
• Split Interest Trusts
• Techniques for leveraging the Unified Credit Equivalency
• Limited Partnerships and other Family Business Entities
• Charitable Gift Planning and Trusts
• Probate avoidance techniques

Bruce also employs his corporate and estate planning experience to advise business owners on succession planning issues and methods available to provide for the orderly transfer of control of family interests. He is listed in the Virginia Business magazine's Virginia Legal Elite and in the 2006 Virginia Super Lawyers.