There are so many benefits of hiring an estate planning attorney. While you can easily prepare a will, estate planning goes far beyond a will. You need to plan for the distribution of your assets in a way that is fast, efficient, and cost-effective. Estate planning also touches on your life before death, such as incapacity. Estate planning attorneys can help you plan for these things to ensure your estate plan has a holistic coverage over all your needs.
1. Planning for efficient asset transfer
Asset transfer is an integral aspect of estate planning. Normally, without estate planning, your assets would still be transferred, but the recipients may not be your first choice. And those who you wish to benefit—such as distant and non-relatives—will be completely left out. Through proper estate planning, you can write down instructions on exactly how your wealth should be shared, and we help you achieve this by preparing:
- A will: We help you draft your will such that it says exactly what you mean, using the right terms as recognized by the court. We customize your will to address the peculiar situation in your family, while mitigating confusion, conflicts, or ambiguity. To simplify the asset transfer process, we could also create a
- Trust: Assets transferred via a will must pass through a court system known as probate. Probate in New York takes time and money. But assets transferred via a trust will not pass through probate. Hence, it becomes easier and quicker for your loved ones to inherit what you bequeathed to them.
2. Plan for incapacity
As you get older, there is tendency you may become unable to run your financial affairs yourself. Dementia, Alzheimer’s, or some other severe illness can make a person legally incapacitated — incompetent of making decisions for themself. We can help you plan towards this so that in the event you become incapacitated, you would have someone making decisions for you.
We can help you create:
- Power of attorney: by which you appoint a trusted agent who would make financial decisions on your behalf and manage your estate when you become incapacitated.
- Healthcare surrogate: Your healthcare surrogate or medical power of attorney enables you authorize an individual to make healthcare decisions on your behalf.
- Living will: in which you express your wishes concerning eventual end-of-life situations.
3. Asset protection
If your estate values beyond the estate tax exemption amount ($5.85 million) and you wish to avoid the huge tax, we can help you shield your assets by execution of an irrevocable trust. This also shields them from creditor claims, relieving your family of the stress of having to deal with your creditors.
4. Helping you avoid or minimize Probate
Probate in New York is not something anyone would wish for. It is time-consuming, expensive, and exhausting. Through certain estate planning tools such as living trusts and gifting, an estate planning attorney can help you avoid this legal process.
5. Co-ordinate your estate plan
Your estate planning lawyer will also ensure your estate planning documents are all working in unison to offer you the most benefits. Just as wills have merits and demerits, living trusts have as well. But an experienced estate lawyer can combine both, using each instrument to handle different assets, in order to use one to complement the other. If you have a living trust and you name a successor trustee, then it may not be necessary to create a power of attorney. With your best interest at heart, your lawyer will determine what’s best for you and apply it.
6. Making Updates to your estate plan
While you may think estate planning is a once-and-for-all affair, it is not so. Your documents require updates from time to time to keep up with the ever-changing laws and your estate situation. A named beneficiary or fiduciary may pass away, and you may get divorced, acquire or lose property. Each of these scenarios will require a relative change in the respective document.
Estate planning attorneys near me 14205
If you live around Buffalo, NY 14205, our estate planning attorneys are just a phone call away. We’ve helped several clients in Buffalo during the past years; let us help you now. Contact us today to speak with an estate planning attorney 14205 Buffalo, NY.