In a long-term care crisis?
In a long-term care crisis?
You may assume estate planning only provides for loved ones after your death, but it is a viable tool for managing assets now. Some trusts offer tax advantages, and you can gift treasured mementos now. Additionally, the financial power of attorney allows a partner to represent you in a business deal.
You also gain peace of mind knowing you control what you have worked a lifetime to earn by providing for family, friends, charities, and even pets. Our attorneys tailor documents to your specific needs. Come in, sit down with us, and talk about the next steps in your family’s financial future. A Warrendale estate planning lawyer could answer your questions.
Planning your estate and financial affairs requires an understanding of wills and trusts. A will permits you to leave gifts to family members, friends, and charities and settle your business interests with your chosen party. If you don’t adopt a will naming beneficiaries for your assets, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania will do it for you under Pennsylvania Statutes § 2101. By dying intestate or without a will, the state uses a formula to disperse your assets to family members, beginning with your spouse and children.
A living will informs your physicians about what extraordinary care you want or do not want when your condition is terminal, and you cannot tell them. These measures include feeding tubes, ventilators, hydration, and any other measures that may prolong your life but not its quality. Most people allow caregivers to administer pain medication, and caregivers will do so unless you direct them to discontinue it. Without a living will, distraught family members must determine what you want under difficult circumstances.
Revocable living trusts allow trustors to add and remove assets and beneficiaries at any time prior to death when revocable trusts become irrevocable. Trust assets do not go through probate, so they are distributed more quickly than assets that pass through the probate process.
Trustors transfer ownership of assets to irrevocable trusts and cannot alter them, although they give trustees explicit instructions on how to manage the assets when they create the trust. These trusts provide tax advantages because the assets no longer belong to you. People often use irrevocable trusts to qualify for Medicaid long-term care programs that impose income caps. Speak with a Warrendale lawyer about how a trust might benefit your estate planning process.
Another important aspect of estate planning in Warrendale is understanding the power of attorney. A general financial power of attorney allows you to grant a trusted person the authority to make financial decisions for you when you are incapacitated or unavailable. You can structure these powers to last long term or limit them to a single transaction.
Your agent can manage bank and investment accounts, lease or sell your real estate, dispose of assets to pay creditors, and pay bills.
Nobody knows whether they will end up hospitalized and unable to communicate with the attending medical team about preferred treatment. Hopefully, this never happens to you. The durable medical power of attorney does not kick in until you are unable to make decisions. You appoint an agent you trust to make medical decisions, such as whether to have surgery or speculative treatment when you cannot.
We touch on the most common estate planning documents, but there is no one-size-fits-all. We customize your documents and amend them if, over time, your situation changes enough to warrant it. You can also set up trusts to benefit disabled family members without jeopardizing their Social Security benefits or to provide care for beloved pets who outlive you.
Estate planning creates a detailed map that links your past, present, and future. It allows you to move through life knowing your loved ones are cared for and keeps you in control of decisions that affect you through the end of your life. Call us today to schedule a consultation and get started. Our Warrendale estate planning lawyers are ready to help you map your course.
