Experienced Estate Planning Attorney for Wills, Last Will & Testament, Guardianship & Adulting Documents

Every adult should have a Will. A Will, formally known as a Last Will and Testament, is the foundation of your estate plan. The Will dictates how your assets will be distributed upon your death. You do not need to be wealthy or own property. If you have one person you care about, one furry friend, or a cause that you want to protect, a Will is essential. Without a properly drafted Will, you create undue stress and anxiety for your loved ones, often resulting in family fights and court involvement. You leave your family with added financial costs and delays processing your affairs. When you have minor children, it is important to name proper guardians and trustees in your Will so the children and their assets will be cared for as you wish, in your absence.

When children are 18 years old, they become legal adults, even if they continue to live in their parents’ home or attend college. To ensure that you, the parents or guardians, can continue to obtain information about your children, we create specific documents These documents ensure that you can obtain medical, financial and scholastic information about your children. I refer to this as the Adulting Package.

In certain situations, it is beneficial to have a Trust. When properly prepared, a Trust can avoid the probate process, protect privacy, and offer a seamless way to manage the assets of someone who becomes incapacitated or passes away. There are multiple forms of Trusts serving a variety of purposes. We evaluate whether a Will, Trust, or combination of both, best protects you and your loved ones and satisfies your goals during your lifetime and after your death.

Powers of Attorney are always part of estate planning. With these Powers, you give authority, to someone else to manage your financial and medical affairs during your lifetime. You can make these Powers effective at signing or when and if you become incapacitated.

In crafting estate documents, inheritance tax is always something we discuss. Nobody wants to see their hard-earned savings going to the government instead of to their loved ones. If your spouse is inheriting your assets, there is no inheritance tax consequence. We review the assets and goals of each client and decide what actions are most beneficial. In general, if a person keeps control and/or use of property during their lifetime, it will be subject to inheritance tax. There are various tools that can be used to limit inheritance tax, but they must be considered in conjunction with the entire estate plan. At times, we refer clients to their accountants or financial planners for more in-depth financial counseling.

A Living Will, also known as an Advanced Directive, is an incredibly significant document. This document outlines the type of care you want withheld if you are in the “end stages of a terminal illness” or “permanently unconscious.” You provide the Living Will to your health care provider so that life and death decisions can be quickly made when a patient is unable to speak. The medical providers try to abide by their patients’ desires and will ask the patient directly if the patient can speak. This document usually names the person who you empower to speak to the doctor on your behalf.

These documents include multiple medical terms and allow a person to be specific and write details of their wishes. We have seen many end-of-life scenarios and have learned that these emotional and emergent situations are much more complicated than the words on the documents. Often, we recommend that our clients speak with a qualified nurse or health care practitioner to learn the meaning of the medical terms. I will connect my clients with someone who can provide that information.