Estate Planning for All Ages
Estate Planning encompasses a broad range of issues and the preparation of important documents such as wills, trusts, powers of attorney, health care directive, and community property or other spousal agreements. Each of these documents can play an important role in ensuring that your wishes are carried out, both during life and after death. Although the primary focus of our office is assisting seniors with their legal needs, we enjoy working with clients of all ages on estate planning and other needs within our practice areas.
Powers of Attorney
Powers of attorney are the most important documents you can have during your lifetime. Powers of attorney allow you to nominate another person(s) to make health care and financial decisions on your behalf when you need assistance.
Health Care Directive
A Health Care Directive is a set of instructions for doctors and people making health care decisions on your behalf to guide their actions while you have a serious medical incident or in an end-of-life situation.
Last Will and Testament
A will is essentially a set of instructions that governs the distribution of your estate. It also nominates an individual (an Executor) to be in charge of this process. However, a will and its nomination of an executor is not legally binding until the court authenticates the document and officially appoints the Executor. This process is referred to as Probate.
Trusts
There are many kinds of trusts which can be used to address various planning needs such as: long-term care and disability planning, blended family estates, estate tax planning, probate avoidance, planning for minors. Each client’s situation needs to be carefully examined to determine whether a trust is needed as a part of their estate plan and if so, what type of trust is most appropriate.
Other Documents
Other documents may be necessary to accomplish your specific planning goals. For example, your situation may benefit from the use of community and/or separate property agreements, pre or post-nuptial property agreements, or transfers of real property.
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