Estate planning protects your family from uncertainty and unnecessary costs by ensuring your wishes are clearly documented and legally enforceable.
Most people think estate planning only matters when someone dies, but a comprehensive plan actually protects you and your family during life’s unexpected moments. What happens if you’re in an accident and can’t make financial decisions? Who will make medical choices for you? How will your family access accounts or manage your business?
A well-designed estate plan addresses these situations while you’re alive and ensures your assets transfer efficiently when you die. It also minimizes taxes, avoids unnecessary court proceedings, and prevents family conflicts over your wishes.
Will
Your will names an executor to handle your estate and directs how your assets should be distributed. It can also appoint guardians for minor children and address specific bequests of personal property through a personal property memorandum.
Financial Power of Attorney
This document lets a trusted person handle your financial and legal matters if you become incapacitated. We recommend making it effective immediately so it’s ready when needed – once you’re incapacitated, it’s too late to sign one.
Medical Power of Attorney and HIPAA Release
These documents appoint someone to make medical decisions for you and give them authority to discuss your care with doctors and access your medical records.
Directive to Physicians (Living Will)
This specifies your end-of-life care preferences when you have a terminal condition and can’t communicate your wishes. It covers decisions about life-sustaining treatments like ventilators, feeding tubes, and resuscitation.
Out-of-Hospital Do-Not-Resuscitate Order
This directs paramedics and healthcare professionals about life-sustaining treatments during cardiac or respiratory arrest outside of hospitals, including at home, nursing facilities, or during transport.
Revocable Living Trust
A trust holds and manages your assets during your lifetime and distributes them after death without probate. Trusts are particularly useful for out-of-state property, incapacity planning, and tax strategies for larger estates.
Transfer-on-Death Deed
This transfers real estate directly to beneficiaries after death without probate while allowing you to maintain full ownership rights during your lifetime.
Survivorship Agreement
Married couples can use this document to ensure community property automatically passes to the surviving spouse rather than going through probate.
Many of your assets probably won’t go through probate if they’re properly structured. Bank accounts, retirement accounts, investment accounts, and life insurance pass directly to beneficiaries through beneficiary designations or joint ownership arrangements.
The key is making sure these designations are current and coordinated with your overall estate plan. Outdated or missing beneficiary designations can force assets through probate unnecessarily or send them to unintended recipients.
Larger estates and complicated family situations require advanced planning techniques to accomplish specific goals while minimizing taxes and protecting assets.
Estate planning doesn’t end when documents are signed. We help clients with trust administration, annual tax return preparation, estate and gift tax filings, and IRS audit representation. We also assist with estate administration when the time comes.
Many of our clients work with us over many years as their circumstances change, their wealth grows, or tax laws evolve. This ongoing relationship ensures their plans remain current and effective.
We work with individuals and families at all wealth levels who understand the importance of proper planning. Our clients include business owners planning for succession, executives with complex compensation arrangements, investors managing significant portfolios, inheritors dealing with wealth transfer, and parents planning for their children’s future care.
Estate planning begins with understanding your goals, family situation, and assets. We then design a plan that accomplishes your objectives while minimizing taxes and administrative burdens for your family.
The planning process involves drafting appropriate documents, coordinating beneficiary designations, and ensuring all components work together effectively. We also provide guidance on funding trusts and implementing other aspects of your plan.
Don’t leave your family’s security to chance. Contact our firm today to discuss your estate planning needs and learn how we can help protect what matters most to you.
