Estate planning is more than just planning for the distribution of your possessions when you pass away. You have to make plans for how these assets will be managed when you cannot manage them yourself, such as during old age and incapacity. Proper estate planning also addresses asset protection, protecting you from losing valuable money through estate tax, probate, settling creditors and lawsuits, etc. And when it comes to transferring your assets when you die, proper estate planning makes it fast, seamless, and inexpensive.
That’s why we are here.
Estate planning attorney – serving your best interest in Long Island
Our estate planning attorneys Long Island are committed to providing you a well-rounded estate plan that works to your best interests. With decades of practice assisting clients throughout Long Island, we understand the challenges people usually face as regards asset transfer, incapacity, probate, long term care, elder law, and lots more. We want you to have peace of mind during your last days, knowing your wishes will be honored and your loved ones will receive what you want for them hitch-free.
Call us today for our empathetic and professional assistance.
How your estate planning attorney Long Island can help you
Efficient asset transfer
A crucial aspect of Estate planning involves making plans for the transfer of your assets when you pass away, ensuring it is done efficiently and at minimum cost. There are ways to do this:
- Writing a will: A will, formally called a last will and testament, is a legal document on which you state clearly your wishes regarding the distribution of your estate. Your estate in this sense includes all that you own that has financial value.
As simple as writing a will may seem, it is not always so, especially when you have complicated assets or a complicated family. That’s where we come in.
As your estate planning lawyer, we can guide you on the best way to distribute your assets to avoid discrepancies and estate litigation among your family. We also offer advice on what assets to address in your will and those to leave outside of it. If you have highly valuable assets, we typically advise keeping them out of the will to avoid probate.
- Living Trust: Trusts are also used for asset transfer but help you do so more efficiently. All assets going through the will pass through probate, hence incurring court fees, publicity, and time-consumption. But with a living trust, your loved ones can inherit your property straight away.
Planning towards incapacity
Incapacity is a situation where an individual is legally pronounced incompetent of managing their affairs and making decisions for themselves. It may be due to ageing diseases such as Alzheimer’s. Whatever the case, you shouldn’t leave things to sort themselves when that happens. Your family may be confused as to what you’d want for your healthcare, business, investments, and whether to sell, investment, and what not. And each person may have different suggestions, leading to conflicts about your estate. That’s why we regard incapacity planning as a highly important aspect of estate planning.
We can help you establish certain documents where you can make your wishes known during incapacity or an end of life situation.
- Durable Powers of attorney: A durable financial power of attorney is a document in which you appoint someone who will make financial decisions on your behalf. This person can manage your business, make investment, sell, buy, or pay bills on your behalf. A healthcare power of attorney is also important to name someone to make medical decisions for you.
- Living will: A living will does not address assets but your healthcare wishes for an end-of-life situation. You can state whether to be kept of life support or not in order to save money if there is an unlikely chance for survival.
Tax planning
Depending on the value of your estate, a huge amount of money may be going to the state as estate tax. Our estate planning attorneys are proficient tax planners and can help you minimize the tax liabilities of your estate.
Asset protection
Why allow your money get used up paying nursing home costs, creditors, and tax and leaving next to nothing for your loved ones? Your estate planning attorney can help you keep your assets out of reach through asset protection.
