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Will and Trusts and Advance Healthcare Directives
Wills, Trusts, and Advance Healthcare Directives help give you and your family a piece of mind.
We can
help you carefully consider any potential critical life-changing events and discuss the decisions that need to be made if
these events occur. We can help give you proper counsel on how to get the best outcome from personal preferences, help you
write these documents at your own convenience, and reduce the taxes you might need to pay in an event of any critical event.
Moreover, we can help give you a piece of mind that your wishes will be carried out in any event you are rendered unable to
make decisions for yourself.
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Wills
A will designates who receives
one’s property upon the event of one's death. Wills also provide for all unmentioned items to pass to named
recipient(s). In addition to creating the scheme and details for posthumous gifts, a will often includes the following:
- Nomination of minor childrens' guardian
- Establishing a “testamentary trust” to be formed upon death
- Naming of a personal representative of the estate
- Granting of
gifts to named charities or other named organizations
What Happens
if I Don’t Get a Will? If an individual dies without having ever prepared
and signed a will, the laws of the state in which they reside or where the property is located will take affect. These laws
will dictate the distribution of the deceased's property. It is possible this “intestate succession” may
distribute the deceased's property in a manner unsatisfactory and confusing to both the deceased and the deceased's heirs.
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Trusts A trust is, in short, the establishment of a document to allow one person to hold property to benefit
another person.
It is when property (accounts, primary or secondary residences, personal property, or any property not
mentioned) is transferred to an individual "in trust" for the benefit of another individual, group of individuals,
or organization.
General Benefits of a Trust - Avoidance or reduction in gift and estate taxes (“death taxes”)
- Reduction in tax burden on life insurance proceeds
- Providing
for children and other descendants
- Increasing control over property upon death
- Creation of incentives for behavior, accomplishment, or other stipulations
among heirs
- Creation of on-going donations for charitable, religious
, or other organizations
- Avoids the cumbersome (and expensive) probate process
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Advance Healthcare Directives
When a patient is left in a state
of not being able to care for themselves or personal healthcare decisions, an Advance Healthcare Directive is beneficial.
These directives solve disputes between family members and the medical staff regarding decisions about medical care, keeping
the patient alive, or other scenarios.
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