Are you looking for the best Estate Planning Lawyer in Queens? Contact us! Over the years, we have become reputable for offering impeccable estate planning services in Queens.
We execute holistic estate planning that covers:
- Efficient asset transfer
- Asset management during incapacity
- Long term care
- Guardianship
- Tax planning
- Probate minimization and administration, and
- Asset protection, among others.
Our aim is to give you the peace of mind knowing that you, your loved ones, and your possessions will be well catered to when something happens to you in the future.
Call us for expert assistance from an estate planning lawyer Queens.
Asset transfer
You most likely are already thinking about how you would want your hard-earned possessions transferred when you die. You possibly have a spouse and children with a list of assets. While you can rush and state who receives what, your lawyer is there to assess your assets and situation to know how best to distribute these assets.
For asset transfer, our estate planning lawyers can either use a will, trust, or both.
Will: A will 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. It is easy and cheap to create but is not efficient for complex estates.
For example, if you own property in multiple states and you allocate them in your will, then probate will be conducted in each state for the property owned there. Probate in one state is problematic and expensive enough, talk more of having a multiple. To avoid such complexities, it’s best to use a trust.
Probate minimization through living trust execution
Probate is a problematic legal process that takes place when someone dies leaving estate. It is typically lengthy, costly, and time-consuming in Queens. But all of that depends on the nature of the estate passing through probate. The higher the value, the more complex probate tends to be. If that’s your case, you wouldn’t want your survivors to go through the stress before they can inherit your property.
Typically, all assets passed via a will will pass through probate. Depending on the complexity of your estate, a good estate planning lawyer will suggest handling your valuable assets in a living trust so that those passing through probate will be minimized (if all can’t go through the trust). All assets passed in a trust avoid probate.
Incapacity planning
By establishing a document known as power of attorney, an estate planning lawyer can help you appoint someone to manage your affairs when you become unable to manage them yourself. This person, your agent or attorney-in-fact, may make financial or healthcare decisions for you as you authorize in the document.
We advise creating a durable financial power of attorney and healthcare power of attorney now that you are competent. A durable power of attorney is one that does not become inactive due to incapacity. On the contrary, your agent can step into your shoe and manage your affairs any moment you become incapacitated. This avoids your estate from suffering huge blows if there’s no competent person authorized to step up immediately.
If there’s no incapacity plan in place, then your loved ones would have to seek guardianship over you when you become incapacitated, and this takes time and money.
Asset protection
If you have too many debts, chances are your loved ones would have almost nothing to inherit when you pass away. But you can avoid that by holding your valuable assets in an irrevocable trust. Irrevocable trusts offer asset protection in that you, your creditors, tax, nursing home, and others who would normally have a claim to your property would no longer be able to reach it. Hence, your beneficiaries would receive the full value of your possession tax-free when you die. Also, even when you are involved in a lawsuit, your shielded assets cannot be used as settlement.
Guardianship
If you leave behind minors, these ones are not allowed to inherit by NY laws. To protect their interests, your lawyer will help establish guardianship in your will, whereby your appointed individual will manage assets for your minors until the come of age to inherit.
If you also have an elderly loved one who needs to be looked after because of their disability, we also represent you in guardianship application.
Long term care planning
Looking forward to staying or putting your elderly loved one in a nursing facility is a big step that requires empathy and planning. Our elder law attorneys are always ready to assist you, ensuring you get the right care from the facility without being taken advantage of.
Contact us today for expert assistance from the best estate planning lawyer Queens.