Estate, Tax & Business Law Practice, 34-Year Connecticut Firm

$1.5M

Revenue

$665K

SDE

3.2x

Multiple

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Full Editorial Writeup

This is a boutique law firm founded in 1992 in the Greater New Haven, Connecticut market, focused on estate planning, estate and trust administration, probate, business law, and tax planning. Over three decades it has built a referral-driven book serving high-net-worth individuals, families, business owners, and fiduciaries, sourced entirely through relationships with attorneys, accountants, financial advisors, and repeat clients. There is no outside sales force, which tells you the firm competes on reputation and specialized capability rather than marketing spend.

The revenue mix is genuinely attractive for a law practice: Estate Planning is 46%, Estate Administration 27%, and Trust Administration 16%. That combination matters because estate planning today feeds estate administration tomorrow, and the mature trust administration portfolio throws off recurring fiduciary fees. On roughly $1.53M trailing revenue the firm produces about $665K of adjusted EBITDA, a 43.4% margin that is strong for a three-person operation.

Revenue has rebounded sharply after a former partner departed, growing from roughly $913K in 2024 to $1.07M in 2025 and $1.53M trailing, with the seller projecting ~$1.85M annualized for 2026. The seller is retiring but flexible on transition timing, and the office real estate is available separately for $950K. The demographic backdrop, an aging affluent population and a wave of estate attorneys retiring without succession plans, supports continued demand.

Why we like it

Earnings quality is strong for the size, with a 43.4% EBITDA margin on $1.53M revenue and a mix weighted toward recurring trust and estate administration work rather than one-off transactions. The self-replenishing lifecycle, where planning work today generates administration fees later, gives the revenue base real durability. On $665K of cash flow the 3.18x asking multiple (business only, excluding the separate real estate) is reasonable for a profitable professional practice.
The moat is a 34-year reputation and referral network with attorneys, accountants, and financial advisors that produces new matters without any advertising spend. Estate and trust work is sticky because clients and fiduciaries do not switch counsel mid-engagement, and the mature trust portfolio produces ongoing fiduciary billings. This is exactly the boring, defensible cash flow that compounds if you simply keep the lights on and the relationships warm.
The tailwind is demographic and durable: an aging affluent population increases demand for estate planning and administration exactly as many competing estate attorneys retire without succession plans. That means both rising demand and shrinking supply of qualified providers in the local market. Estate and tax services are non-discretionary, so this holds up in a downturn better than most professional services.
The operator advantage is a firm that has grown from $913K in 2024 to a $1.85M annualized 2026 run rate with essentially no formal marketing. A buyer who adds digital marketing, structured referral management, and administrative capacity to free up attorney time has clear, cheap levers to pull. The seller is genuinely motivated to transition and will stay for an extended handover to protect the referral relationships.

How to improve it

Build a formal referral management system in the first 90 days, tracking which attorneys, accountants, and advisors send matters and systematically nurturing the top sources. The firm has never done this, and even modest attention to the existing network should lift new-matter flow without spending on advertising. Referral tracking also de-risks the transition by making the relationships institutional rather than personal to the departing owner.
Launch targeted digital marketing aimed at high-net-worth individuals and business owners in the Greater New Haven market, including a modern website, local SEO, and educational content on estate and succession planning. The firm currently generates business entirely by word of mouth, so this is greenfield. Given estate work is high value and high margin, even a handful of incremental engagements pays for the effort many times over.
Address the key-person risk by cross-training staff and hiring or contracting an additional attorney to add billable capacity. The listing flags limited backup coverage for key positions, which caps how much the firm can grow and how safely it can operate post-sale. More attorney hours directly convert into revenue in a demand-rich market.
Add administrative and paralegal support to shift routine work off the attorneys and increase billable productivity. In a practice throwing off 43% margins, every hour of senior time freed for client work has an outsized return. This also improves service consistency and turnaround, strengthening the referral reputation.
Deepen penetration of the existing high-net-worth and business-owner client base by cross-selling business law, tax planning, and succession-planning services to estate clients. These clients already trust the firm, so expanding wallet share is far cheaper than acquiring new clients. Business succession work is a natural adjacency given the aging owner population the firm already serves.
Evaluate acquiring the office real estate for $950K separately, since the firm already occupies it and pays market rent normalized to $5,000 per month. Owning the building converts rent into equity and captures the property appreciation, and it can be financed on separate terms. Run the numbers on whether owning versus leasing improves total returns given your cost of capital.
Formalize the trust administration portfolio into a documented, recurring-revenue book with clear engagement terms and renewal tracking. This makes the recurring stream more visible and valuable, and easier to grow. It also strengthens the story if you later sell or roll up additional practices.

Diligence notes

Scrutinize the revenue growth trajectory, since jumping from $913K in 2024 to a projected $1.85M annualized 2026 is aggressive and partly reflects recovery after a partner departed. Confirm how much of the trailing $1.53M is durable recurring work versus a few large administration matters that will not repeat. The 2026 annualized figure is a projection, so verify the underlying pipeline and signed engagements.
Assess the key-person dependency carefully, because the seller and the firm's reputation drive the referral flow, and the listing admits limited backup coverage. Determine whether the client and referral relationships transfer to a buyer or walk out with the retiring owner. The extended transition offer is a positive, but the buyer needs to be a licensed attorney able to actually service the work.
Confirm the working capital and lease mechanics, including the ~$107K of normalized working capital in the deal and the net lease running through December 2029 at $4,500 per month with rent normalized to $5,000. Verify that the seller retaining excess cash and settling non-assumed liabilities does not leave gaps. Model the ~$21K monthly debt service against $665K of cash flow to ensure comfortable coverage.
Verify the EBITDA add-backs and normalization, since a former partner's departure drove operational changes that affect the comparability of prior-year financials. Confirm the $665K adjusted figure reflects true owner-operator economics including a market-rate salary for the replacement attorney's time. If the buyer must hire an attorney to replace the owner's billing, real cash flow may be lower than stated.
Confirm the client concentration within the estate and trust administration portfolio, since a few large estates or fiduciary engagements can distort the recurring-revenue picture. Understand the timing of large administration matters, which can be lumpy. Also review any malpractice, ethics, or bar-related exposure standard to legal practice acquisitions.

Source

Originally listed on BizBuySell. View original listing →