Our Services
Estate Planning and Asset Protection
Trust and Estate Planning
Put simply, this is a set of legal documents that make plans for everyone you love and everything you have. If you become incapacitated, who makes medical and financial decisions for you? If you die, what happens to your loved ones who need you, your property, your saved money, or your dependents?
Estate Planning and Trust documents answer all these questions in a clear and legal manner. Those who die without these documents will have decisions made in a long, drawn-out court process called Probate. Avoid probate. Sit down with us and create an Estate Plan. We will help and guide you.
Asset Protection Planning
Nobody expects to be sued. Just ask the 20 million people involved in lawsuits last year. Divorce, inheritance, health issues, creditors, employees, theft, changing markets, malpractice suits, sexual harassment claims, natural disasters, and disgruntled business partners are just a few issues that can result in lawsuits.
Set up your business and life to protect your assets. Asset protection includes insurance options, prenuptial agreements, asset segregation, choice of jurisdiction, gifting, LLCs, partnerships, corporations, and asset protection trusts. Customized combinations are layered depending on the needs of the client and as appropriate.
Estate Tax Protection
You work your entire life to save and have enough money to retire comfortably—and ideally, leave something for your loved ones when you pass away. During your life, you pay all kinds of taxes: income taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, and so on. And at the end, the government even wants to tax you on the assets you have left at your death.
This is known as the estate tax, sometimes called the inheritance or death tax. The best way to protect your assets and your family’s future from excessive taxation is to hire an attorney who specializes in estate tax planning.
Family and Personal Planning
Guardianship / Naming Legal Guardians for Minor Children
69% of parents have not named legal guardians for their children. If you have minor children at home (or children with special needs), it’s time to review your plan for their care. If something happens to you, it’s important to remember that if you do not legally assign a guardian, who will raise your children if something happens to you? If a guardian has not been assigned, a judge will make that decision for you. Let us help you establish a guardian; this will give you peace of mind.
Adult Guardianship /Conservatorship
Whether through illness, injury, or mental decline, anyone can require a guardian (also known as a conservator) to care for them if they become mentally or physically incapacitated. Unless the person has the proper estate planning in place that names a guardian, however, guardianship must be established through county probate court. Although naming a guardian for a minor child involves a somewhat similar process, obtaining adult guardianship is vastly different, especially in terms of what the court requires as proof that guardianship is warranted.
Special Needs Planning
Estate planning for a family with special needs children comes with a complex set of financial, social, and medical issues. Ensure your child with special needs will be well taken care of when you’re no longer able to serve as the primary caregiver. Many families with a special needs child set up a Special Needs Trust to help manage future expenses without losing essential government benefits and care.
Elder Law
Long-Term Care Planning
Putting strategies in place is necessary to maximize the protection of your family’s assets from the cost of long-term care. We provide everything needed to keep your affairs out of the court system.
Elder Care
As Elder Law Attorneys, we help seniors take a holistic approach to legal issues that people commonly face as they age, especially with health, housing, financial well-being, and long-term care.
Special Needs Planning
Estate planning for a family with special needs children comes with a complex set of financial, social, and medical issues. Ensure your child with special needs will be well taken care of when you’re no longer able to serve as the primary caregiver. Many families with a special needs child set up a Special Needs Trust to help manage future expenses without losing essential government benefits and care.
Probate -
The easiest way to avoid the probate process is to plan, but if you are now in a situation where you must go through probate courts to finalize the estate of a loved one, the best thing you can do is get educated and get help to complete the process as quickly, and cost-effectively, as possible.
Get help through the process of estate administration. If you are a beneficiary of an estate or an executor or trustee, contact us for support in handling the transition of your loved ones’ assets as easily as possible.