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Overview

Patrick combines an intentionally practical approach with a deep grasp of the law to provide clients with advantageous strategies to accomplish their estate and succession planning goals.

Highly focused and disciplined, Patrick develops and implements plans that are customized for clients at all levels of wealth and stages of life. As leader of the firm's Private Wealth group, he works closely with each client’s team of advisors, accountants and other professionals to create a comprehensive plan that helps clients realize their goals and objectives and secure the future for themselves, their families and beneficiaries. Clients appreciate Patrick’s ability to present complex strategies in down-to-earth, easily understood terms.

Patrick focuses on wealth, tax, trust and estate planning; estate and trust administration; probate; privately held business and corporate planning; asset protection planning; special needs planning; and probate and trust litigation. He has designed and implemented numerous plans to minimize income, gift, estate and generation-skipping transfer taxes associated with succession planning for individuals and privately held businesses. He also represents fiduciaries, beneficiaries and other claimants when controversies arise involving taxes, trusts, estates and related property interests.

Patrick’s business background and advanced degree in tax law help provide clients with the business-oriented legal advice and knowledge they might expect of in-house counsel.

Industry

Services

Recognition

  • The Best Lawyers in America®
    • Closely Held Companies and Family Businesses Law, 2023-2025
    • Trusts and Estates, 2023-2025
  • Thomson Reuters' Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers, Estate Planning & Probate, 2020-2023; Rising Star, 2013-2019
  • National Association of Estate Planners & Councils, Accredited Estate Planner
  • St. Louis Magazine, Five Star Wealth Manager in Estate Planning, Taxation, Business Planning and Trust Services, 2011, 2014
  • St. Louis Small Business Monthly, Top 100 St. Louisans You Should Know to Succeed in Business, 2014, 2021; Top Estate Planning Attorney, 2017, 2019

Education

  • J.D., Saint Louis University School of Law
  • LL.M., Washington University in St. Louis School of Law
    • Taxation
  • B.S.B.A., Saint Louis University
    • Management Information Systems
    • cum laude

Admissions

  • Missouri
  • U.S. Tax Court
  • Illinois
  • Texas

Professional Memberships and Certifications

  • American Bar Association, Taxation, Real Property, Probate and Trust and Business Law Sections
  • The Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis, Probate and Trust Law Steering Committee
  • Estate Planning Council of St. Louis
  • Illinois State Bar Association
  • Lawyer Pilots Bar Association
  • The Missouri Bar
2024 Pro Bono Contributor
Experience

Wealth, Tax, Trust, and Estate Planning and Administration

  • Drafted trust and estate planning documents, including wills, revocable and irrevocable trusts, financial and medical durable powers of attorney, living wills, healthcare declarations, qualified spousal trusts, life insurance trusts, National Firearms Act (NFA) trusts, gift trusts, family trusts, dynasty trusts, qualified personal residence trusts, discretionary trusts, GST trusts and asset protection trusts.
  • Designed and implemented prenuptial and postnuptial agreements.

Estate and Trust Administration/Probate

  • Counseled professional and nonprofessional administrators of trusts and estates on fiduciary duties.
  • Assisted with probate and trust administration, fiduciary income tax returns and accountings.

Business/Corporate Planning

  • Formed entities, including limited liability companies, corporations and partnerships.
  • Developed and structured exit strategies that maximized client's goals and objectives.
  • Helped clients devise effective and practical business succession plans.
  • Prepared buy-sell agreements, family business plans, purchase and sale agreements, asset purchase agreements, stock purchase agreements, promissory notes and leveraged buyout plans.

Asset Protection Planning

  • Advises clients on strategies for protecting assets from loss, risk and exposure, both during life and after death. Tools used include asset protection trusts, irrevocable trusts, limited liability companies, prenuptial and postnuptial agreements, and insurance planning.

Probate and Trust Litigation

  • Represented clients in litigation on such matters as will and estate contests, breach of fiduciary duty, trust accountings, spousal claims, beneficiary rights, creditor claims, undue influence and business owner disputes.

Special Needs Planning

  • Advised clients on use of special needs trusts and guardianships and conservatorships.
  • Prepared special needs trusts, testamentary special needs trusts, Medicaid payback trusts and other discretionary trusts.
Legal Updates | August 04, 2023
Benefits of Succession Planning
Legal Updates | August 04, 2023
Common Business Succession Planning Strategies
Legal Updates | February 14, 2023
Common Gift Tax Return Mistakes and Ways to Avoid Them
Legal Updates | December 06, 2022
Estate Planning Solutions for Year-End 2022 and Beyond
Legal Updates | September 16, 2022
The IRS is Expected to Adjust Certain 2023 Exclusions and Exemptions for Inflation

The gift tax annual exclusion and the estate and gift tax exemption amounts are expected to increase due to inflation in 2023.

White Papers | April 29, 2020
Advanced Estate Planning Solutions: Responding to COVID-19

How to leverage powerful estate planning tools during a time of crisis. 

Outside the Office

Patrick is a licensed pilot and enjoys flying throughout the Midwest and South.

He is an avid auto racer and drives several different cars at raceways throughout the Midwest. He also plays ice hockey and golf.

Community Leadership
  • Red Cross, Planned Giving Committee, 2017-present
  • KidSmart, Planned Giving Advisory Board, 2006-2007 
  • St. Louis Children’s Hospital, Legacy Advisor, 2010-present 
  • Tarlow Family Foundation, 2008-present