Attorney Profile 

JOSEPH R. BURCKE is a native of St. Louis, Missouri. He graduated A. B. cum laude from St. Louis University in 1972 and obtained his Juris Doctorate Degree from the University of Missouri - Columbia in 1975. He is licensed to practice in all state and federal courts in Missouri as well as the 8th Circuit United States Court of Appeals. He is also licensed to represent clients in the United States Tax Court. He holds an "AV" rating from Martindale-Hubbell.

Mr. Burcke is a member of the Missouri Bar, where he serves on the standing committee on Probate and Trust Law. This committee formulates proposed legislation considered by the Missouri General Assembly on the topics of wills and decedent estate administration, guardianships, conservatorships, powers of attorney, and non-probate transfer laws (beneficiary deeds and transfer on death designations). He serves on the Trust Law Subcommittee, which has been responsible for the passage of the recently enacted Missouri Principal and Income Act (that regulates the allocation of principal and interest between beneficiaries of trusts and estates) and the Missouri Uniform Trust Code. He is also a member of the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis. He is a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys.

His legal practice focuses upon estate planning and estate and trust administration. He provides clients advice upon the appropriate use of Wills, Trusts, Powers of Attorney, Beneficiary Designations and other legal techniques to maintain client control of assets, avoid needless costs of probate in the event of disability or death, and minimize estate taxation at death. He also advices clients on how best to protect assets in the event of catastrophic illness or injury or the need for long term assisted living arrangements. Additionally he helps clients minimize income and estate tax consequences through appropriate investment strategies the purpose of which are to insure preservation of asset value while providing an enhanced rate of return and the deferral of income taxation so as to allow tax deferred compounding of earnings over multiple lifetimes. Joe is also a licensed insurance producer in the state of Missouri. This allows him to help clients implement many of the estate planning structures he creates by funding such structures with the proper insurance and annuity products required for maximum efficiency of operation and productivity of result.

Joe is actively involved in the local charitable community having drafted the documents to create IRS recognized public charitable institutions including the endowment funds for local churches and not-for profit organizations such as local youth soccer leagues.

He is a founding member and past president of the Independence Through Employment (ITE) Sheltered Workshop in St. Louis County, Missouri and a past director of the St. Louis Chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. He has helped countless families plan for the economic protection of their children with special needs.

Joe is a member of St. Francis Xavier (College) Church where he has previously served on the Stewardship Committee (whereon he chaired the "returning God's Gifts Archdiocesan campaign) and the Endowment Committee (for the benefit of which he created the "St Francis Xavier (College) Endowment Trust"). He is the doting father of two beautiful daughters, Meg, a Senior in the School of Journalism of the University of Missouri-Columbia, and Jill, a Junior at Kirkwood High School, Kirkwood Missouri.

Contact joe via email at jrburcke@burckelaw.com