Overview
April Risk Arnett develops family wealth transfer plans and business succession plans that minimize gift, estate and generation-skipping transfer taxes while achieving each family's unique needs and goals. She also represents individual and corporate personal representatives in the administration of trusts and estates.
April assists clients by:
- Reviewing, analyzing and developing estate plans for high net worth individuals and preparing wills, trust agreements and related documents necessary to implement such plans
- Negotiating and preparing premarital agreements for high net worth individuals
- Reviewing, analyzing and developing succession plans for closely-held businesses and preparing the documents necessary to implement such plans, including shareholder agreements, buy-sell agreements, and various trust agreements and strategies
- Advising on the administration and distribution of large and complex trusts
- Reviewing and analyzing existing irrevocable trust agreements and developing and implementing plans to modify trust agreements via mergers, decantings and court proceedings to address changed circumstances among trustees and beneficiaries
- Advising on the opening, administration, distribution and closing of large and complex estates, as well as the preparation of federal and state estate tax returns associated with those estates
Related Legal Services
Credentials
Bar Admissions
Indiana
Education
Indiana University Maurer School of Law
J.D. magna cum laude, Order of the Coif, Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies (articles editor) (2002)
Indiana University, Bloomington
B.S. in Finance and International Studies, with high distinction (1999)
Insights & Events
Insights
Other Perspectives
- The Hows and Whys of Trust Decanting
Indianapolis Bar Association, 2014
Leadership & Community
Pro Bono
April consults with FaegreBD’s pro bono committee on the development of non-litigation pro bono programs. She compiled a comprehensive handbook of materials and conducts volunteer attorney training for the Eskenazi Health Services EMBRACE Program, which provides estate planning assistance to low-income cancer patients. April also consults and supervises volunteer attorneys in the preparation of wills and lifetime incapacity directives for Wills for Heroes clinics, which provides services to local first responders, including police, firefighters and paramedics. In both programs, she works with volunteer attorneys on an ongoing basis to answer client-specific questions, review wills and lifetime incapacity directives, and draft tailored provisions for participants' wills.
Professional Associations
- Indianapolis Bar Association — Estate Planning and Administration Section (Executive Council, 2015-present)
- Indiana State Bar Association — Probate, Trust & Real Property Section
Civic Activities
- Central Indiana Community Foundation — Professional Advisors Leadership Council (2015-present)
- Lutheran High School of Indianapolis — Board of Directors, 2006-12 (President, 2011-12; Secretary, 2008-11) and Association Delegate, 2005-09
- Booth Tarkington Civic Theatre — Board of Trustees, 2009-14
- Dance Kaleidoscope — Board of Trustees, 2003-05
Honors
- Best Lawyers® — Trusts and Estates, 2024-25
- Indiana Super Lawyers — Rising Star, Estate Planning & Probate, 2017-23
- Indiana Super Lawyers — Estate Planning & Probate, 2019