Estate Planning

Estate planning is the process of deciding how your assets are managed during your lifetime and after your death, and making appropriate arrangements to ensure your wishes are carried out. Basic goals of estate planning include ensuring that your assets pass to the people who you want to receive them (the beneficiaries of your estate) smoothly, efficiently, and without the need for probate, and minimizing the amount of estate taxes that must be paid upon your death (for estates with a total value that exceeds applicable thresholds). Estate planning allows you to be in control of your assets and decide a number of key issues, including:

 

• how your assets are handled while you are still living but are incapacitated,

• who you would like to receive your assets after death (the beneficiaries of your estate),

• how the beneficiaries of your estate receive the inheritance you leave them,

• who is in charge of administering your assets after death, and

• who you would like to be the guardian of your minor children (if applicable).

 

A few key documents an estate plan might include are:

 

• a Revocable Trust

• a Will

• a Power of Attorney for Health Care

• a Power of Attorney for Property

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As can be seen above, many considerations must be taken into account when putting together an estate plan. It is not a one-size-fits-all matter. Our attorneys take time to understand each client's unique needs, explain the various options that may be available, and work with them to tailor a plan that accurately reflects their intentions. 

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Click here if you'd like to browse answers to frequently asked questions

related to estate planning and administration.