If you are married, divorced, or have one or more children, or if you own a house or other real estate, or if you own a business, you need an Estate Plan!

      The foundation of every good estate plan is your Will.  If you don’t have a Will and you die, then your estate will be tied up for many months in probate and the state will decide who inherits your assets, and more importantly, a judge will determine who will have custody of your children! Do you really want the state to make those decisions for you? Of course not!

      The next critical element of a good estate plan is setting up your Trust. A well thought out and legally sound Trust can let you put conditions on how your assets are distributed after you die that a Will alone cannot do. If done properly, a Trust will avoid lengthy and expensive probate, and will help you minimize or avoid unnecessary gift and estate taxes, and a Trust will help you better provide for and take care of your spouse, children and loved ones long after you die.

      Other important elements of a good estate plan include having your Durable Power of Attorney as well as having your Health Care Directive. What would happen if you were seriously injured or become seriously ill or have a serious stroke and become unable for a period of time or permanently to make decisions for yourself? Your spouse, children, or loved ones may not be legally able to make those decisions for you, including accessing your bank accounts, retirement accounts, life insurance, or be able to pay your bills, or handle or make any other financial or health decisions on your behalf. As a minimum, they will have to spend a lot of time and money to hire attorneys to go to court to try to secure the necessary legal authorizations for you, and even then you may not get everything you need or want. But having your Durable Power of Attorney and your Health Care Directive will allow you to have your spouse, loved one, or trusted friend to be able to immediately handle all of those critical things for you.

      We'll work closely with you to truly understand your situation, what's important to you, what your needs are, and help you plan your estate in the best possible way to meet your unique needs.

      No one likes to talk about death and dying, but the truth is, as we all know too well, death is going to happen sooner or later for all of us - we just don't know when, and waiting until it does happen is far too late. The worst thing you can do to your spouse, children, and loved ones may be to die without a well drafted estate plan. They will not only have to deal with the sadness and emotions of losing you, but they’ll have to deal with the potential mess you left behind because you didn’t have your estate plan in order. You love them too much to let that happen! Properly planning for the inevitable will bring peace of mind knowing that your spouse, children, dependents, loved ones, and even your business will be taken care of as you desire, and without confusion, without the delays and high costs of probate, and while protecting your assets against costly taxes that could have been avoided if you would have let us help you!  Let us help you get your estate in order - call us today! Tomorrow may be too late!