Estate Planning Attorney
Whether young or “of a certain age,” married or single, everyone needs an estate plan. It is important to provide for the proper distribution of your property when you pass away, and to provide for health care and other property management when you cannot. Please feel free to visit our article on the matter, “Reasons to Establish an Estate Plan,” for further information.
Lambert Law offers package deals to individuals and couples who wish to proceed in this manner. We also make it easy to work through the plan with a simplified checklist and pointed interview questions to draw out any unique circumstances or desires of the client.
Basic Estate Planning Documents
Most estate plans include these four documents:
- Last Will and Testament
- Revocable Trust
- Durable Power of Attorney
- Designation of Patient Advocate
Last Will and Testament. Your Will is the first expression of your intent in disposing of your assets and taking care of your family. The Will designates who receives your property, money and accounts, and in what order. You designate your Personal Representatives and Guardians, and specify any preferences you have concerning burial, funerals and organ donations
Durable Power of Attorney. The Durable Power of Attorney enables you to appoint your spouse or other trusted person to continue your personal and business affairs if and when you are legally incapacitated.
Designation of Patient Advocate. The Designation of Patient Advocate Form appoints your spouse or other select person to act as your Patient Advocate. The Patient Advocate is authorized to make critical medical decisions for you when you cannot, including to remove you from life support under specified conditions.
Note: The three documents described above will provide you an essential and simple Estate Plan. These documents will not, however, provide for any ongoing needs for your spouse or heirs after your death. Your heirs will also be forced to deal with probate proceedings and maybe even estate taxes if you do not have a Revocable Trust. You can review our “Reasons for Estate Planning” page to learn more. In many cases, your estate planning goals will be better achieved by adding a Revocable Trust to your plan.
Revocable Trust. A Revocable Trust is your primary estate planning document. The bulk of your estate assets will pass according to the instructions in the dispositive sections of this instrument. Your Revocable Trust enables you to specify detailed instructions as to whom and when your assets will be distributed, and to better meet your goals of avoiding probate, chaos, and estate taxes.
Other Planning Services. Lambert Law offers a full range of counseling and analysis for all of its estate planning clients. We are prepared to discuss and advise clients on the following topics with clients who seek the basic plan or who have more complex needs that stretch beyond that basic planning package:
- Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts (ILIT)
- Funding the revocable trust
- Charitable gift planning
- Generation-skipping
- Special needs trusts
- Advice on elder law issues
Lambert Law is prepared to adjust on the go and develop an estate plan that is as simple or complex as is required for each client. We work in concert with your professional advisors as needed to develop the best estate plan for you.
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