Jennifer L. Saint-Louis, Esq. is a Partner and Co-Chair of the Trusts & Estates practice area at our New York City office. Admitted to practice in New York and New Jersey, Jennifer focuses her practice on estate planning, asset protection, succession planning for business owners, and estate and trust administration. Jennifer serves as a trusted advisor to individuals, families, business owners, executors, and trustees, counseling clients on a comprehensive range of issues within the areas of trust and estate law.
Jennifer assists clients with varying levels of complexity in their estate planning needs, goals, and objectives from the preparation of basic estate planning documents such as Living Wills and Advance Directives for Health Care, Limited and/or General Durable Powers of Attorney, and Last Will and Testaments to more sophisticated planning using Revocable and Irrevocable Trust Agreements for taxable and non-taxable estates. She assists clients with the formation of limited liability companies, limited partnerships, non-profit organizations, and other business entities, and facilitates the orderly transfer of business interests from one generation to another.
Jennifer counsels executors and trustees on fulfilling their fiduciary responsibilities in the administration of estates and trusts, providing guidance through complex estate probate and administration including the sale of real property, accounting to beneficiaries, and all fiduciary responsibilities to administer, distribute and close the estate. She also prepares and files federal and state estate and inheritance tax returns, and guides clients in the preparation of informal and formal accountings of estates and trusts.
Before joining Davidoff Hutcher & Citron LLP, Jennifer led the Trusts and Estates division at a mid-size New Jersey law firm. There she provided probate and estate planning services, General Counsel services for small businesses, representation to clients in mediation and before the Court in guardianship matters, and representation to beneficiaries in matters to remove Trustee(s) and/or dissolve Trusts(s), to compel fiduciaries to account for the assets of the estate and timely probate the estate, and to compel Trustees to account and compensate beneficiaries for waste of Trust assets.
In addition to the practice of law, Jennifer has extensive business experience; she spent her early career consulting for healthcare organizations in multiple states throughout the country where she held executive level roles providing leadership and oversight of business operations and revenue cycle; policy and procedure development, training, and implementation; mergers and acquisitions; contract negotiations; contract management; healthcare regulatory compliance; and budget oversight. Stakeholder engagement and consensus-building are important components of a larger skill set Jennifer brings to the representation of business clients.
Jennifer’s combined legal and business knowledge and experience allow her to understand the needs of business clients, providing them with comprehensive guidance ranging from General Counsel services to business structuring and succession planning, and ensuring these elements are considered in a comprehensive estate plan.
As a devoted advocate for her clients, Jennifer builds lifelong relationships with not only her clients, but their families as well. Jennifer strives to protect and preserve her clients’ assets for their lifetime and for generations to come by designing and implementing wealth preservation strategies tailored to her clients’ specific needs, goals and objectives.
Jennifer received her undergraduate degree from the State University of New York and her Juris Doctorate from Seton Hall University School of Law. In her spare time, she is an avid horse lover and enjoys spending time with her family.
Practice Groups
- Trusts & Estates
Admissions
- American Bar Association, Trusts and Estates Section
- New York State Bar Association
- New Jersey State Bar Association
Education
- J.D., Seton Hall University School of Law
- B.A., Health Information Management, State University of New York (SUNY)
Client Experience
- Successfully represented clients in contested guardianship matters to obtain court appointment of client as guardian.
- Effectively counseled clients through complex estate probate and administration including guiding fiduciaries through the sale of real property, accounting to beneficiaries, and all fiduciary responsibilities to administer, distribute and close estate.
- Productively represented Trust beneficiaries to remove Trustee(s) and/or dissolve Trusts(s), including actions for Trustee to account and compensate beneficiaries for waste of Trust assets.
- Represented estate beneficiaries to compel fiduciaries to account for the assets of the estate and timely probate the estate.
- Consistently successful in preserving assets for clients in both advance and emergent Medicaid planning while obtaining eligibility for benefits, New York and New Jersey, institutional and community benefits.
- Provided sound and effective guidance to healthcare organizations on Privacy law issues, policies, and training for Compliance with HIPAA and HITECH law.
