Estate Planning

“Estate planning” is the process of arranging your assets and legal documents in the most effective way to ensure that your assets are managed how you want by the people you select for the people whom you want to benefit, both during your life and after your death. This process includes consideration of factors such as family concerns, state legal requirements, practicalities, taxes, and probate avoidance. (“Financial planning,” in contrast, makes sure that there are enough assets to benefit those people.)

Just a few of the topics that we might discuss are:

Who will manage your money for you if you are incapacitated?
Who will do the same for your spouse after you are gone?
How much and in what format do you want to provide for your
    children and grandchildren?
Are trusts needed for beneficiaries for tax saving, asset management,
    creditor protection, or other reasons?

Are you in a second marriage or have a blended family?
Are you thinking of moving to another state, such as Florida?
Are you saving for college for children or grandchildren?
Do you have “non-traditional” family planning needs of any type?
What is the best way to pass on your retirement benefits?
Do you want to include a charity as a beneficiary?
[view charitable gift planning information]

Some of the documents that we routinely use in estate planning are:

• Living Trust
• Will
• Power of Attorney [view power of attorney information]
• Living Will [view living will information]
• Health Care Power of Attorney
  [view health care power of attorney information]