Are you looking for a highly seasoned trust and estates lawyer in Long Island? We are here for you.
Our Trusts and Estates Lawyers have years of experience assisting clients throughout Long Island in matters of estate planning. Our approach to trusts and estate is holistic, taking into account your personal situation and goals, and creating a well-rounded estate plan that addresses them.
We deal in the creation of wills, trusts, powers of attorney, living wills, tax planning, establishing guardianship, asset protection, and lots more. Contact us today.
How your Long Island Trusts and Estates Lawyer can help
· Creation of wills and trusts
Wills and trusts are crucial to estate planning. So long you have certain individuals you want to bequeath assets to, you must have at least one of these asset transfer documents. There are legal requirements and estate situations that determine how your will and or trust should be established. Hence it’s in your best interest to consult an experienced legal professional. It’s a trusts and estates attorney’s job to ensure your will and trusts works to your advantage.
· Probate avoidance and minimization
Your will does not become active until death, which is why you can alter your will at any time. At death, it becomes active and must be taken to your county probate court by your executor, someone who you should name in your will.
During probate, the court checks your will for validity, your debts and estate taxes will be paid, and your estate disbursed according to your will. This process can take anything between 3 months to years, and not until it concludes can your loved ones inherit.
That is why we often advise executing a living trust instead of a will. Trusts avoid probate and enable your loved ones inherit immediately you pass away. This document is more complex than a will, so it’s crucial you get help from a trusts and estates lawyer Long Island.
· Probate administration
As an executor of a will, you have sensitive responsibilities, including:
- Filing the will to the probate court
- Handling and managing the decedent’s assets
- Dealing with the decedent’s creditors
- Filing all applicable tax returns, settling these taxes, paying off creditors and probate court fees from the estate purse.
- Deciding whether to invest estate assets or liquidate as the case may be
- Distributing the assets to beneficiaries according to the will.
You will have to abide by Long Island laws and there is always room for mistakes if you’re inexperienced. A little mistake can be calamitous to the estate and may lead to litigation between surviving family and executor.
Therefore, it’s always advisable to contact a Long Island estate attorney to ensure you get everything right. Let us help you.
· Incapacity and powers of attorney
We advise creating living trusts because of their multiple benefits. When you create a living trust and name a successor trustee, this trustee will become automatically responsible for managing your estate when you become incapacitated. At your death, they would manage your trust assets and distribute them according to your instructions.
However, we can also help you establish a power of attorney if you don’t want a living trust. In a power of attorney document, you name an agent who makes financial and/or healthcare decisions on your behalf when you become unable to do so. Your agent in a medical power of attorney has no authority over your assets and vise-versa.
Trust and powers of attorney must be established while you’re still competent.
In a case where your elderly loved one falls into incapacity without creating any of these documents, you would need to apply for guardianship to put them into your care. Our estate attorneys can help with this although it is often more complicated and expensive than creating durable powers of attorney.
· Tax planning
Depending on the value of your estate, a huge amount of money may be going to the state as estate tax. Our 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.
Trusts and Estates Lawyer near me Long Island
Get expert help from our trusts and estates attorney by calling us today. Your first consultation is free.