Wills, Trusts, and Estates Attorney Serving New Jersey and Pennsylvania
Estate planning
Estate planning has several objectives: (1) to manage assets to meet lifetime needs; (2) to manage assets during life and death; (3) to manage and mitigate tax and administrative costs; (4) to mitigate losses if any (5) to manage and create trusts for beneficiaries, if any (6) to have the properly drafted and executed legal documents necessary to implement the above.
Working as a Team
We work hand in hand with you, your accountant and financial advisor. We seek to assist you during the estate planning process and to procure desirable results. We, further, strive to pass your estate to your loved ones with the least amount of time consumption, stress, and expense. Our process is straightforward and we believe relatively painless: (1) first we send a simple questionnaire; (2) we educate/advise you; (3) work with and assist your professional team; (4) draft and review the necessary legal documents (5) execute the necessary legal documents. In this day and age and for simple estates much of this can be done through email and over the phone. We are committed to providing legal services in the most convenient manner to our clients, which may consist of meeting at homes or hospitals.
Please continue reading further for an overview of some estate planning concepts and legal services we provide.
Last Will and Testament (Will)
It is difficult to overstate the importance of a well-constructed will. A will is arguably the most important document that you will leave behind. It should be designed and planned out by a skilled attorney with experience in Estate Planning.
Living Wills (Advance Directive for Health Care)
Living wills authorize a trusted person to step in and make medical decision on your behalf if you become terminally ill and incompetent. It may also allow another person to make general health care decisions on your behalf.
Power of Attorney
A “Power of Attorney” is a written instrument giving another person (the “Attorney in fact”) the power to make decisions in the name of another (the “Principal”). Power of Attorney’s generally grant the attorney in fact power to make financial decisions on behalf of the principal. There are different types of Power of Attorney; limited, general, general durable and springing.
Limited Power of Attorney grants a specific power such as the power of sell a particular piece of real estate.
General Power of Attorney grants a broad range of power with the intent of the principal being that the attorney in fact is generally acting as a full representative of the principal in all matters. This type of Power of Attorney ends if the principal becomes disabled.
General Durable Power of Attorney grants the same powers as a General Power of Attorney but does not extinguish upon the disability of the principal.
Springing Power of Attorney grants powers to the attorney in fact upon the disability of the principal.
Always remember that a Power of Attorney extinguishes at the demise of a principal and then the deceased wishes are then to be carried out through a Will or Trust.
Trusts
A trust, simply defined, is an entity (Trustee) that holds specific property for the good of one or more beneficiaries. There are many types of Trusts and there use, name and function can be quite jurisdiction specific. Read below for a quick synopsis of some commonly used trusts.
Testamentary Trusts are trusts setup in a Will they usually pertain to beneficiaries that are not old enough to inherit under the will.
Living Trusts are trusts setup during the life time of the grantor. There are two types of living trusts revocable and irrevocable.
Revocable trust can be amended and revoked at anytime. Do the fact that the grantor can rescinded the trust at anytime the law holds that the grantor is still in possession of the assets within the trust and therefore the trust does not shield against tax and creditor liability. Revocable trusts can be managed by a successor trustee if the grantor becomes disabled further they will not transfer through the probate process, as assets in a Will would, but would automatically be governed by the terms of the trust upon the demise of the grantor.
Irrevocable trusts are not easily revoked and the grantor has given up complete control to a trustee to manage the trust, therefore this type of trust shields against creditor and tax liability.
Contact Holdsworth Law to have your end of life matters taken care of empathically and know that you can have peace of mind in regards to you final wishes.
