Mr. Freideman has assisted executors and personal representatives with the probate and tax settlement of estates of all sizes. His tax background enables him not only to provide all required probate services but also to prepare and counsel regarding all required income and estate tax returns.

Probate services include preparing all required documents to open, administer and distribute the estate to its beneficiaries. During probate, Mr. Freideman will maintain the required records, communicate with the estate’s beneficiaries and, where required, represent the estate in contested matters.

An estate faces taxes from three directions: (1) death taxes on the estate's assets; (2) income taxes on the decedent to the date of his or her death and (3) income taxes on the estate on the income generated between the date of the decedent's death and the date on which the estate, having paid all taxes and creditors, closes and distributes its remaining assets to its legatees. For an estate, estate and income taxes are interrelated since certain deductions can be taken on the estate tax return or the estate's income tax return, but not both.

During probate, Mr. Freideman’s focus includes planning to minimize the estate tax and income tax consequences to the estate and its beneficiaries through the use of such post-mortem planning techniques as the use of disclaimers, liquidity planning, selection of the estate’s tax year, and, where the bulk of the estate consists of a business, establishing an installment agreement to spread the payment of estate tax over a number of years.

Mr. Freideman will prepare all required returns for the estates he assists, including the federal estate tax return, all state estate tax returns and, in Maryland, all filings regarding the Maryland inheritance tax. He provides counseling services to the estate's personal representative (executor) regarding possibilities for tax reduction, including possible use of the estate tax alternate valuation date and allocation of deductible expenses between the estate and income tax returns. Timing of deductions is also important since certain "excess" deductions at the end of an estate can be passed through to the beneficiaries for use on their own tax returns.