Estate Planning and Probate

You’ve worked hard for your assets during your life. Creating an estate plan will protect those assets during your life if you should become incapacitated, and make sure they get to the people you love in the most efficient manner once you are gone.

Planning for the transfer of your assets when you are gone is not a topic anyone enjoys thinking about. Neither is planning for the possibility of your mental and/or physical incapacity. Neglecting to set up a clear estate plan for this process however can lead to difficulties and stress for your loved ones in the event of your mental and/or physical incapacity or demise.

Having practiced in the probate courts for many years, I have often helped clients deal with the fallout when family members never got around to drafting their estate planning documents. What could have been a relatively painless legal process becomes costly and protracted. I have represented clients in probate court to start guardianship and conservatorship proceedings for a parent, because the parent put off their estate planning until they developed dementia and no longer had the capacity to sign powers of attorney. I have also represented many clients in legal disputes which arose after a person’s death because the decedent either never signed a will/trust or drafted an ambiguous or flawed document.

Going through the effort and expense of setting up an estate plan for the transfer of your assets upon your death and the management of your affairs if you should become incapacitated is an altruistic act done for your family, making things easier for them if and when they must deal with these events.

When you are ready to take action on setting up your estate plan, please print and fill out our estate planning questionnaire. We can then sit down together so I can understand your goals and future objectives for your estate. By exploring options and alternatives together, we can create a plan best suited to your individual situation.

Topics frequently discussed at this stage of the process include:

  • Protecting your children’s inheritance from creditors, lawsuits and failed marriages
  • Designing a plan that encourages your children to use their inheritance wisely
  • Preserving your estate and providing for your future care
  • Planning for elderly parents, grandchildren, or children with disabilities
  • Avoiding probate through a revocable trust
  • Providing for your spouse after your death and protecting your children from disinheritance if your spouse remarries
  • Administering your estate upon disability or death

To schedule an initial consultation, please contact me.

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Estate Planning