Estate planning is a great step for anybody who is willing to take it. Proper estate planning gives you peace of mind about the future—assurance that you can still provide for those who depend on you even when you’re gone. But that’s not all. Proper estate planning saves your family the stress, confusion, and expenses they would have gone through if you’ve not put strategic plans in place to ease things up. And estate planning lawyers help to make this possible.
Get help from our estate planning lawyers Buffalo, NY 14276
Our estate planning lawyers serving Buffalo NY 14276 have your best interest at heart. We discuss with you to understand your needs, and then we use the appropriate strategies to ensure your assets are transferred efficiently at minimal cost and complications. We also help you carry out incapacity planning to ensure your personal and financial affairs are properly managed by someone of your choosing when you’re unable to handle such affairs yourself.
Let us help you. Contact us today to speak with one of our estate planning lawyers near 14276 Buffalo NY.
What we do
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 who you wish. 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, discrepancy, and 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.
Minimizing probate
Probate may be simple if you have few possessions in your name, but complex if your estate is complex and valuable. To rid your family of the stress of probate, it’s beneficial to minimize the amount of assets going through probate. By holding some valuable assets in trust, we can help you achieve this. As the case may be, we may avoid probate altogether by employing certain estate planning strategies like joint ownership in addition to trust execution.
Minimizing cost
Another important aspect of estate planning is cost minimization. Before your loved ones can inherit your property, they may be subject to huge costs, including probate fees, debts, state estate tax, and federal estate tax. Note that your estate would be subject to estate tax if it values above the threshold. Currently, the New York estate tax exemption amount is $5.85 million. If your estate value is more than this, then 5-16% of it will be going to the state of New York.
These costs put together can eat a huge chunk of your estate, a part better disbursed to your loved ones. To enable your beneficiaries get the most out of your estate, our attorneys can employ certain estate planning strategies, such as:
- Execution of irrevocable trusts
- Ownership by joint tenancy
- Gifting
- Using pour-over wills.
Plan for incapacity
As you get older, there is a 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 possible end-of-life situations.
Estate planning lawyers near me 14276
To get in touch with an estate planning lawyer near you in Buffalo 14276, kindly call our law office today.