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Estate Planning Attorneys
We assist our clients at every stage in life in planning for their future. Creating and properly maintaining an estate plan can preserve your family’s wealth and maximize your ability to care for future generations. In some cases, a properly crafted estate plan can also help provide asset protection to your beneficiaries from future creditors and even divorce.
Learn More About Our Estate Planning Practice
We encourage you to click on the links below to learn more about our practice and how we can assist you in planning for your family's future.
Avoid Common Problems with an Estate Plan
Without an estate plan, state probate and intestacy laws may not accommodate the unique needs of your family. Here are just a few common pitfalls that can occur without proper planning:
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Minor Children: If you have minor children a court will need to appoint a guardian and a custodian to care for them and to look after the inheritance on their behalf. Of course, the person(s) who the court appoints as guardian and conservator may not be the same person(s) you would have appointed to care for your children. Even more concerning is that some family members may be able to care for your children but they cannot effectively manage money. In addition, in some cases, when the children reach eighteen (18) they may be entitled to receive money from your estate without any restrictions.
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Children with Special Needs: If you have children or loved ones with special needs who qualify for government benefits, an inheritance given outright (not in trust) to such an individual could disqualify them from receiving their state/federal benefits.
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Unique Family Situations: The intestate succession statutes are not designed to meet the unique needs of every family. For example, if you are in a second marriage in which both spouses have children from a prior marriage the intestate succession statutes could produce an undesirable result in which your second spouse and surviving children may not receive the inheritance that you would have intended.
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Incapacity: If you become incapacitated, you won’t be able to manage your own financial affairs. In most cases, your spouse or adult children cannot automatically take control over all of your assets and financial affairs. For a family member to take control your finances in the event you are incapacitated, he or she must normally petition a court to declare you legally incompetent.
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Federal Taxes: The federal laws with respect to the estate tax (also known as the inheritance tax) currently provide that there is no federal estate tax (effective as of January 1, 2010). Many commentators, however, believe that Congress will enact laws sometime during 2010 which will keep the estate tax in place indefinitely. These new laws will likely attempt to apply the estate tax retroactively back to the beginning of 2010. If you have a large estate it is very important to plan for upcoming changes to tax laws at the federal level. Creating an estate plan can assist your family in minimizing the affect of the estate taxes payable to the state and/or federal government after your death.
Our philosophy is not only to prepare you for the needs you have today but also to create a plan that will work when unanticipated events occur. Part of the implementation of that philosophy is to draft documents that you can easily understand and interpret. We will take the time to make sure you not only understand the terms of what you are signing but that you feel comfortable with our plan.
To learn more about how our estate planning professionals can assist your family or business, please call or email Michael Barry.
Phone: 720-536-4660
We will be happy to schedule an initial consultation to discuss the benefits of estate planning.
