To get the best estate planning services, it is always in your best interest to consult an estate planning lawyer near you. Call us to get in touch with an estate planning lawyer near Queens, one highly knowledgeable in Queens laws and common estate issues.
Our estate lawyers are highly proficient in creation of wills, trusts, powers of attorney, living wills, and all other estate documents required for comprehensive estate planning in Queens.
We take a holistic approach to estate planning, listening to your needs, financial situation, and estate goals. Out of experience, we also consider those issues which may apply to your estate that you do not even know about, such as tax burdens.
Our aim is to offer you comprehensive estate planning that covers all your needs.
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Essential documents for a basic Queens estate plan
Last Will and Testament
A will, formally called a last will and testament, is a basic estate planning document on which you express your wishes concerning how you want your assets distributed when you are gone. You can decide to leave assets for anyone of your choice, including your spouse, parents, children, grandchildren, friends, charity, or even strangers. However, your will must be written in the right terms to say exactly what you mean. This is where an estate planning lawyer comes in.
Your attorney will help you draft your will using the standard terms as recognized by Queens law to avoid things going in a way you didn’t plan for when you die. They also help you determine what assets you should address in your will and those best left out.
Living trust
While every will is subject to probate, a complex and expensive court process that takes place after you pass away, trusts avoid this process. Your beneficiaries can therefore inherit quickly and cost-effectively if you use a living trust to bequeath assets to them.
Since trusts are complex estate planning instruments, it’s crucial you seek assistance from an estate planning lawyer near you. Notably, our estate planning lawyers will always assess your situation to determine what kind of trust to establish, as there re different types with each type having its distinct benefits.
Durable Power of Attorney
As one gets older, there is a chance to suffer aging diseases such as dementia, Alzheimer’s, and the likes. Things like this makes one incompetent to make reliable decisions for themselves. It may also be due to a disability, accident, or sickness such that renders them unconscious. In such a situation the person is declared legally incapacitated. But such a person may need someone to make decisions on their behalf, such as in matters concerning their finances, business, or healthcare.
To this end, your lawyer can create some documents for you.
- Durable financial power of attorney: A durable financial power of attorney is a document on which you appoint an agent (attorney-in-fact) to manage your financial affairs in the event you become unable to manage them yourself.
- Durable medical power of attorney: A medical power of attorney or healthcare surrogate is a document on which you appoint an agent to make healthcare decisions on your behalf when you become unable to do so yourself.
Living will
A living will is different from a last will and testament. It bears your wishes concerning end-of-life situations, such as whether you would prefer to be kept on life support or not if the chances for survival are almost zero. It is effective until death.
What assets can you pass with your will in Queens, NY?
Only assets held in your name only can go in your will. These assets are called probate assets.
Your real property jointly owned with your spouse, properties titled in a trust, life insurance proceeds and transfer-on-death accounts (all of these already have beneficiaries named in the documents) cannot go in a will because they already have their own designated beneficiaries.
While you need to work with an estate planning lawyer near you Queens
Each estate planning document have their legal requirements for validity. For example, you cannot appoint a non-NY resident as your executor or attorney-in-fact. And there are family members not allowed to take up some of these positions. A local attorney would know the laws and ensure your documents are properly established.
In addition, an estate planning lawyer near you in Queens would have garnered experience on typical issues clients face in Queens and so would help you avoid them.
Call us to get in touch with an estate planning lawyer near Queens.