Estate planning is all about protecting your assets - protecting them for yourself and for those you love. It doesn't take much to send your money in a direction you never intended. Divorcing children, lawsuits, creditors, and the costs of long-term custodial care. Before you're hit with the unexpected, make sure you have the right mechanisms in place to ensure your family is taken care of.

That's the role of estate planning. Estate planning can handle a variety of needs:

• Basic Estate Planning
  • Determining who takes charge at death and who benefits (wills)
  • Deciding what beneficiary designations should say to achieve what you really want (life insurance, annuities, IRAs, qualified retirement plans like 401(k)s, Pay On Death and Transfer on Death designations)
  • Choosing how assets should be titled to achieve what you want (e.g., how joint tenancy can go wrong)
  • Planning for inheritances of minor children or grandchildren
  • Determining who takes charge if you become incapacitated, and what have you given them the ability to do (durable powers of attorney and health care proxies)
• Estate Tax Planning (both federal and state)
• Probate Avoidance
  • Deciding when it's a good idea, when it's not
  • Choosing the correct and least expensive ways to avoid probate
• Asset Protection Planning
  • For problematic adult children and, even more so, for the good children
  • For yourself
• Needs of the Elderly
  • Planning for the costs of long-term custodial care
  • Obtaining eligibility for government benefits such as Medicaid
  • Counselling on housing options and ways to improve quality of life at home
  • Establishing uncontested guardianships
• Planning for Parents of Disabled Children (both adult and minor)
• Cleanup - Administering estates and trusts after people die
• Planned Charitable Giving (creating a legacy)
• Business Succession Planning (leaving a legacy, not a disaster)

Whatever your situation, we work with you to design a legal plan that is customized to your needs and that provides your family and loved ones with the benefits you intend.