Services Offered

One of the hardest thing for a child is losing their parents. When parents forget to plan for such a situation, the result for the child is legal proceedings to determine a day-to-day caretaker, a separate guardian of the property and possibly years of probate litigation. The right structures can put you in the drivers seat of your child's future even if the worst happens.

Estate planning combines various areas of the law to set up sometimes complex structures of agreements, corporate entities, trusts and other devices to offer a measure of asset protection, tax savings, risk management, late-life care control and probate advantages all while retaining control over assets.

When you pass away without a will (or other arrangement), your property gets disposed of according to the government's wishes (as prescribed in law) rather than your own. No matter your net worth, a well-drafted will can help ensure that your property goes to who you want, when you want and how you want.

Often associated with the ultra-rich, trusts are arguably the most powerful asset management devices known to American law.  Among other things, carefully-crafted trusts allow you more control over how your hard-earned wealth is handled for generations to come, can help avoid probate, offer significant tax savings and, in some cases,  even protection from creditors.

If you are ever incapacitated, conflict can arise over who makes healthcare decisions for you. The risk of this conflict becomes acute if you are unmarried or if your spouses passes before you. Using the right document, you can pre-select who makes these decisions for you when you cannot.

While it is difficult to think about, many of us will end up needing life support treatment towards the end of our lives. Having a properly written living will allows you to specify whether and under what conditions you want to be disconnected from life sustaining machines.

For most people, their home is their most valuable asset. When putting together an estate plan, we can ensure that your home (or any other real property) passes according to your wishes and outside of any court process. We accomplish this by the use of appropriate deeds that can be written to retain homestead benefits.

 In our old age, many will be faced with a dementia, Alzheimer's disease or similar diagnosis. If the disease progresses, we may end up needing a guardian. Using the right documentation, you can pre-select who your guardian should be and thereby prevent any family conflict or, even worse, a stranger or healthcare provider getting guardianship over you.

Combined with the right estate planning documents, setting up the right set of beneficiaries on various financial accounts can super-charge the transfer of your assets after your passing. These are very limited on their own, however, and require careful planning and complementary documents that go along with this technique.