Wills & Trusts

Estate Planning is important regardless of the amount of assets owned. Frequently good planning is more critical for someone with a nominal amount of assets than for the wealthy.

Peace of mind should be the goal when attorneys and clients work together to plan an estate. Peace of mind comes from:

• Fully understanding your options,
• Making informed decisions, and
• Obtaining legal documents designed to distribute your property according to your wishes with the least possible taxes, expenses and delay.

Estate planning also includes planning for disability, which may last for many years before death. The following are some of the estate planning tools attorneys use.

Wills

A typical disposition of a moderately sized estate can be handled with a Will.  Even a person with a small estate can benefit greatly from having a Will because it makes clear what your wishes are and allows for a means of honoring them.

A Will can include a self-proving affidavit that, in most cases, avoids the need to bring witnesses to court after death.  You can also name or designate your:

• Personal Representative, the person who carries out your wishes once you have passed away;

• Guardians for minor children if neither you or the child's parent survives, and

• Trustees for assets passing to minor children.  When leaving gifts to children under eighteen years old, a testamentary trust can be useful in avoiding the cost and burden of a financial guardianship for that child's share.

Trusts

There are many types of Trusts. Some you may have heard of are:

• Revocable or irrevocable living trusts may be something you wish to consider if you desire privacy, own property in multiple states or hope to avoid probate altogether.

• Certain trusts may be useful in saving federal estate taxes (inheritance taxes).  These trusts are often used in a married couple scenario allowing the shelter of a  large estate from federal estate taxes.  Failure to use them can leave families paying large amounts of taxes unnecessarily.

• The special needs trust is a useful device when you have a desire to leave money for the benefit of a person with a disability without interfering with their government benefits such as Medicaid. This type of trust allows the person to have many of the extras that the government will not otherwise pay for. A knowledgeable elder law attorney can assist in creating management trusts for personal injury awards or other assets. These trusts help preserve the client's qualification for Medicaid  or other forms of public assistance.