Estate Planning
Protect What Matters
Creating a customized estate plan is an essential step in financial planning for our clients. We are focused on creating plans for our clients that encompass, emphasize, and enhance the accumulation, conservation and distribution of their estate.
Tried and True Estate Planning Tools We Use to Better Serve You:
Health Care Directives/Living Wills – names an agent to make medical decisions on your behalf if you are unable.
Disability Planning/Powers of Attorney – names agent to make financial decisions on your behalf if you are unable.
Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts (ILIT) – trust is owner and beneficiary of life insurance policy to avoid estate tax.
Charitable Trusts – trust with a charitable beneficiary providing tax advantage to Grantor
Special Needs Trusts – trust to provide for someone with a disability while preserving their eligibility for government benefits.
Nursing home planning (Medical Assistance/Medicaid) – strategy for spending down and completion of application for benefits.
Trust Administration – process of managing or distributing trust property according to the terms of the Trust after the death of the Grantor.
Probate – process of administering the estate through a court process after the death of an individual with a Will or no estate plan.
Retirement Planning and Qualified Retirement Plans
LifePlan™ Maintenance Program – Ensure the estate plan you create today continues to be a plan that works for you in the future. Under the LifePlan Maintenance Program we review major life events, people who have been named as beneficiaries or have specific duties, changes in legislation and taxation, as well as changes in assets.
One Size Does Not Fit All
Our attorneys custom design each plan to meet the needs and goals of each individual, whether it be for wills, tax planning, asset preservation, or farm / business succession planning