Ripp Grossman & Fitte LLP

Sophisticated tax and legacy planning to last generations

At RGF, we provide exceptionally high-quality legal services to clients in the areas of domestic and international estate planning, probate, business planning, and tax law.

Ripp Grossman & Fitte LLP
Estate, Business & Tax Planning, Austin, Texas

Practice Areas

Estate Planning

The design and implementation of estate and wealth-transfer plans is an essential component of the firm’s practice. This may include: 

  • comprehensive wills and management trusts tailored toward realizing each client’s unique goals and minimizing exposure to income and transfer taxes; 
  • financial and medical powers of attorney; 
  • irrevocable trusts;
  • charitable planning trusts and private foundations;
  • marital property agreements; and 
  • carefully-drafted beneficiary designations in order to maximize the value of assets that can be transferred to successive generations. 

International Trust & Estate Planning

RGF has special niche expertise with respect to wealth preservation and risk management through the implementation of foreign trusts and related business, investment, and life insurance structures, and assisting clients with the tax planning and compliance aspects of such structures. In the area of “outbound” international estate planning, RGF attorneys are experienced in assisting U.S. clients with settling international trusts and forming various foreign entities that provide clients with a comfortable balance of control and protection of assets, allowing clients to manage their family’s wealth risk and accumulate assets for future generations. With respect to “inbound” international estate planning, attorneys at RGF assist U.S. taxpayers and non-U.S. trustees with managing the complex U.S. tax aspects of foreign non-grantor trusts. In addition, with respect to international private clients, RGF provides advice on the applicable multi-jurisdictional tax and treaty issues they face, whether in connection with family members or business interests in the U.S., pre-inheritance planning, pre-immigration planning, or with the tax treatment of trusts or entities they have created or plan to create.

Probate & Estate Administration

The firm’s probate practice involves submitting wills to the court for probate and assisting the decedent’s family with alternative heirship proceedings when the decedent died without a will. Once the will is probated, or heirs are determined, RGF assists the family with administrative matters such as gathering, inventorying, and valuing assets in the estate and preparing federal estate tax returns, state death tax returns, and state and federal gift and generation-skipping transfer tax returns. When appropriate, RGF attorneys also represent beneficiaries of estates in negotiating settlements of estates, protecting beneficiaries’ rights with regard to monitoring costs of administration, and advising in contested matters.

Business & Entity Planning & Compliance

RGF professionals counsel and advise entrepreneurial clients in planning, structuring, and implementing corporate and partnership investment and business entities, and provide legal counsel for their recurring and nonrecurring transactions, such as: buy-sell agreements, angel and later round debt and equity financing (investor and investee), executive compensation, equity compensation, vendor/customer relationships, strategic joint ventures, succession planning, mergers and acquisitions, corporate reorganizations, private exit and other liquidity transactions. When significant monetization and liquidity events occur, RGF can summon its specialists in the estate, insurance, and asset protection areas to ensure that resulting wealth is maintained and protected in a tax-efficient manner. When clients expand internationally, RGF professionals assist them with proper planning and structuring of in- and out-bound cross-border transactions, as well as with strategic offshore placement of business assets for asset protection and tax planning purposes. 

Domestic & International Tax Planning

A common denominator and distinguishing feature of RGF attorneys and other professionals is their deep and thorough understanding of U.S. and foreign tax and entity issues—an understanding that is essential to an effective estate, asset protection, and entity planning practice, both in the U.S. and abroad. RGF professionals are trained and committed to understanding the intricacies and nuances of state and federal income tax, estate and gift tax, state franchise tax, and the various charitable tax regimes. This training and commitment allows them to work with clients to define their goals, and to design and implement creative strategies to achieve those goals, always with an eye on optimum tax results. The professionals at RGF strive to use their collective understanding of tax issues to meet each client’s individual needs within the context of all relevant tax environments. 

Private Placement Life Insurance Planning

For the past 25 years, RGF professionals have advised clients in the acquisition of very large international and domestic private placement life insurance policies and annuity contracts. RGF's insurance group possesses unparalleled expertise and experience in the rapidly growing private placement life insurance marketplace, which positions it to deliver the very highest level of service in this area. RGF assists its clients with the procurement of private placement variable life insurance and annuities, which provide meaningful desired liquidity and tax mitigation strategies at the insured's death and also dramatically improve the tax efficiency of a client’s investment portfolio. RGF’s position in the private placement life insurance and annuity arena has also resulted in the firm advising both non-legal providers of private placement life insurance and annuity services as well as the investment managers who seek to participate in this growing marketplace. Specifically, RGF’s insurance team regularly counsels sophisticated asset managers and wealth advisors in the establishment and operation of insurance dedicated funds (IDFs), managed separate accounts, and their relationships with insurance carriers.


Please note that RGF is not an insurance broker and only provides legal and non-legal advice on insurance matters; it does not sell or place any insurance or investment products.

Insurance Consultation, Analysis & Administration

RGF's insurance group is uniquely positioned to advise clients comprehensively about all of their insurance needs and whether such needs are best met with commercial coverage, through a captive insurance company, or a combination of the two. A natural extension of the firm’s risk-based approach to counseling wealthy individuals, RGF's expertise in the property and casualty insurance area enables clients or their family offices to access objective information and advice about their various coverages (e.g., property, auto, aircraft, art, umbrella, etc.). A thorough audit by the RGF insurance group of a client’s property and casualty exposures often reveals opportunities for improved coverage at a reduced cost and sometimes implicates the use of other insurance hedging techniques. After the initial audit, the RGF insurance group provides on-going monitoring and administration of the insurance program.


Please note that RGF is not an insurance broker and only provides legal and non-legal advice on insurance matters; it does not sell or place any insurance or investment products.

Family Office Support

Depending on the level of administrative support that RGF clients receive from their family offices, accountants, or other legal advisors, RGF's administrative services can be tailored to encompass virtually all administrative needs or they can be limited to only a few areas. The scope of administrative services includes tax reporting; reporting to local administrative bodies; liaison services with trustees, protectors, asset managers, and custodians; maintenance of corporate or partnership books and records; facilitating contributions to or withdrawals from structures; and general transactional assistance. In order to ensure optimal cost-effectiveness of these administrative services, the majority of the work is performed by non-lawyer professionals and RGF charges for administrative services at a reduced hourly rate schedule as compared to its charges for planning and implementation projects.

Domestic & International Tax Reporting & Compliance

RGF employs senior accounting expertise in-house to provide its clients with a robust domestic and international tax compliance service. The firm offers both comprehensive and specialized accounting and tax reporting services for our private clients who seek a high level of technical expertise and personal service in a legally privileged relationship. The tax professionals at RGF are experienced preparers of complex federal and state income tax returns for individuals and entities, gift tax returns, and estate tax returns. RGF has a long-standing reputation for its knowledge and understanding of international tax rules and compliance with the myriad U.S. information reporting requirements related to international accounts and assets. RGF tax professionals also regularly assist U.S. taxpayers who have been out of U.S. compliance with their U.S. reporting obligations to come into compliance. 

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About Ripp Grossman & Fitte LLP

Ripp Grossman & Fitte was established to provide lasting, trusted counsel to the families and organizations we serve. Our attorneys and professionals partner with our clients across generations and geographic borders. 


At RGF, we provide solutions for the complex issues facing private clients and their businesses. Our aim every day is to earn the trust of our clients through our dedication, integrity, expertise, and ingenuity. We employ a personal, multi-faceted approach that is tailored to each client’s family and situation.


It is our honor to assist the families we serve with their most important and personal objectives—protecting their legacy, securing the future of their business or charitable endeavors, and fostering family harmony. Whether it’s designing estate plans, developing a succession plan for a closely-held family business, providing complex insurance and investment portfolio planning solutions, or ensuring our clients are meeting their U.S. and foreign tax reporting obligations, our attorneys, accountants, and professionals, in collaboration with our clients and their other trusted advisors, work to create bespoke solutions.


Pictured L to R are partners Michael Ripp, Cindy Grossman, non-attorney practice professionals Bob Chesner and Ross Buchholtz, and partner Lauren Fitte.

Estate, Business & Tax Planning Legal Team

Meet the team

Ripp Grossman & Fitte LLP has earned a reputation for excellence in multiple practice areas, with a focus on trusts, estates, tax, insurance, and closely-held business matters. With RGF, you gain partners committed to protecting your wealth and ensuring your legacy thrives through generations. Our niche expertise in foreign trusts and comprehensive tax planning sets us apart, offering a blend of U.S. tax planning insight with an international reach for our clients with multi-jurisdictional interests. 

Michael H. Ripp, Jr.

Partner
Michael represents high net worth individuals and family offices in the design, implementation, and administration of domestic and international trust, investment, and life insurance structures. Michael is board certified in Estate Planning and Probate Law (Texas Board of Legal Specialization).

Cindy L. Grossman

Partner
Cindy has a breadth of experience in corporate and partnership formation and operation, entity conversion and reorganization, business planning, business succession, and asset protection planning.

Lauren M. Fitte

Partner
Lauren’s practice focuses on the design, implementation, and administration of domestic and international estate and business plans and the associated federal income, estate, and gift tax implications applicable to our multi-jurisdictional clients. Lauren is board certified in Estate Planning and Probate Law (Texas Board of Legal Specialization).

Steven D. Baker

Partner
Steven counsels individuals and fiduciaries in a wide variety of estate and business succession, charitable giving, and estate and trust administration matters. Steven also advises personal representatives, trustees, settlors, and beneficiaries regarding the efficient and effective administration of estates and trusts, including compliance with the myriad of tax and non-tax obligations and implementation of judicial and non-judicial modifications and settlements. Steven is a member of the bar in Arizona and Texas, Board Certified in Estate Planning and Probate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, and a licensed C.P.A.

Robert W. Chesner, Jr.

Senior Director of Finance and Insurance, Chief Operating Officer
Bob assists high net worth individuals and family offices with liability risk management and in the design and implementation of domestic and international life insurance and annuity structures. Bob is also the firm’s Chief Operating Officer. In this role, he leads and oversees all of the operational, administrative, and financial functions of the firm.

J. Ross Buchholtz CPA

Director of Tax and Accounting
Ross draws upon his extensive experience as a senior certified public accountant to advise clients on a variety of income and transfer tax matters.

Christina L. Pedersen CPA

Senior Tax Coordinator
Christina assists high net worth individuals, businesses, and trusts with federal, state, and international income tax compliance and tax planning matters. Christina is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in Texas and California (inactive).

Lena M. Hall

Associate
Lena counsels high net worth individuals in the design, implementation, administration, and maintenance of traditional and sophisticated trust and estate plans. She draws on her experience as a family law attorney to advise regarding complex community property issues relating to clients' estate and marital planning goals.

Amy Quiñones

International Matters Coordinator
Amy assists high net worth individuals and family offices in the design and implementation of domestic and international life insurance and annuity structures. She also assists firm clients with the implementation, administration, and tax reporting and compliance of our clients' foreign trust and entity structures.

Carol Kohler

Corporate Matters Coordinator
Carol has many years of experience assisting with corporate and partnership formation and operation, entity conversions, and corporate governance and entity maintenance and compliance. In addition, she coordinates the firm's probate and estate administration practice.

Hattie-Carole Bezner CPA

Tax Coordinator
Hattie-Carole prepares and reviews federal and state tax returns and financials for the firm's high net worth individuals, businesses, and trusts. She is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in Texas.

Heather Denham

Legal Assistant
Heather has supported the firm's estate planning practice professionals for many years and is a reliable resource for the firm's estate planning clientele for questions ranging from will execution to client intake and billing inquiries.

Paula Echols

Legal Assistant
Paula supports the tax reporting and compliance and business planning professionals. Her organizational acumen and taskmaster abilities ensure that clients' tax returns are timely and properly filed.

Shannon Clifton

Firm Administrator
As firm administrator, Shannon oversees all things pertaining to the administration, operations, and management of the office with the help of the administrative team and Bob Chesner, the Chief Operating Officer.

Alyssa Cunningham (née Gault)

Accounting Administrator
Alyssa manages the firm's accounting processes, overseeing billing, payroll, and deposits. She is a crucial component of the firm's back office operations.

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