Estate Planning

Everyone, regardless of wealth, income or age, can benefit from estate planning.  Good planning provides comfort, comfort to us and those we love.  It helps guide decisions while we're alive but unable to make them or care for ourselves.  It provides emotional and financial relief to those we leave behind.  Good planning is therefore, truly, a gift to ourselves and our loved one.  Read below and contact me to discuss how it can help you, and, if you already have estate planning documents, how you might improve them.

• Estate.  You can't take it with you.  But if before you pass you don't decide what will happen to what you own (i.e., your home, vehicles, accounts, investments, insurance, furniture and other assets), the state will decide for you.  I can help you retain control over who receives what and when by ensuring as many of your assets as possible are titled in a way that avoids probate (e.g., titling real estate, accounts and investments so that they pass automatically at your death, or through trusts), and with regard to what must be probated, that your wishes are met. 
• Health Care Decisions.  I can help you spell out in advance, by documents like an advance directive, what kind of medical care you want, and don't, and who will make decisions if you become too ill or hurt to decide.  Instructions like this often provide enormous relief both to those who love us and to the health care professionals who administer care.  
• Asset Decisions.  By a document known as a durable power of attorney, I can help you determine who will manage your assets and debts, and how, while you're alive but unable to make those decisions for yourself.     
• Minor Children.  If you've minor children, I can help you determine who will care for them, and how that person or persons will pay for care, when you're gone.