Our Services
Advance Healthcare Directive
The document called an advance healthcare directive allows you to tailor your end-of-life decisions and identify who you would like to select to implement the decisions you make for your end-of-life. Those decisions include whether you would like to be resuscitated, be kept on life support, or receive artificial hydration or nutrition if you are in a persistent vegetative state or have a terminal medical condition. The person you select, your agent, should be someone you trust and who can handle this type of emotional responsibility. Can this person be at your side in an emergency? Can this person make quick decisions during crisis and handle a high level of responsibility and stress?
Durable Power of Attorney
The document called a durable power of attorney allows you to identify a trusted person called an agent to handle all your financial matters on your behalf if you cannot handle those matters for yourself. As with many estate planning documents you can customize this instrument to be as narrow or comprehensive as you, the principal, choose. The scope of this instrument can be very broad. Working together with trusted counsel can help you identify what type of transactions and affairs you want your agent to handle on your behalf. By customizing a durable power of attorney, you can even decide when you would like your agent’s authority to be effective! This instrument plays a very important role in avoiding court involvement in the event one becomes incapacitated. It can save time, stress, and money during times of crisis and should be included in every estate plan.
In fact, for parents of young adult children, this is the most important document you will need in your estate plan and not just for you, but for them. As you see your children off for college, it’s a bittersweet occasion. Your children are old enough to be considered adults in the eyes of the law but due to inexperience they may inadvertently need assistance with banking, insurance companies, and worst-case scenario, credit card companies! Being a parent, after your children turn 18 no longer gives you automatic authority to act on behalf of your children. You will need a durable power of attorney, but so will they!
A general note about naming agents for both types of powers of attorney. You should always consider naming a “back-up” or what we call in the biz – a successor agent. You just never know what could happen so while we are planning, let’s do it thoroughly!
Last Will and Testament
Wills allow you to transfer your property, money, and homes to the people you would like to have your property after you die. In customizing an estate plan it is important for a will to identify the follow:
Select, in writing, the person who will wrap up your affairs after you pass away. This person is called the executor or personal representative. The executor or personal representative will take control over your assets (financial accounts, stuff and things, houses, etc.,) and manage giving your property to your loved ones, called beneficiaries, as well as protect your loved ones by paying outstanding bills and taxes to creditors.
Select your beneficiaries and identify what you would like for them to have. All families are different, and this is a highly personalized decision that should be made carefully.
Select a guardian to care for your minor children in the event you pass away while your children are under the age of 18.
It is important to remember that a Will is only effective at your death and can be changed anytime up until the time of your death, which means that your executor or personal representative has no power to handle your affairs until the time of your death.
Wills go through a process called probate.
Probate
Probate is a public legal process of a court, or a government agency working on behalf of a court, supervising the transference of your assets from your ownership at the time of your death to the ownership of your beneficiaries who are living after your death.
If you die with a valid will, or if you die with no will, the ownership of certain assets at death will trigger the probate process.
Some States have higher probate fees, longer probate processes, more cumbersome processes than others. It is important to talk with an attorney regarding your state to learn whether transferring your assets at your death without triggering the probate process is right for you.
Certain assets are considered probate assets and some assets like retirement accounts, life insurance and jointly held property pass outside of the probate process. It is important to talk with an attorney to determine which of your assets are subject to probate and which are not.
My firm can help you through the probate process during difficult and challenging periods of loss.
Trusts
A trust is a legal document that allows people to transfer assets out of their estate during their lives, and in some instances, to continue to maintain control over their assets until their death. That type of trust is called a revocable trust. A revocable trust, if used, will transfer your assets at death to your beneficiaries without triggering probate, it is private, and allow for the seamless administration of your estate after you pass away. My firm will help you identify whether a revocable trust, or other type of trust, is right for you.
Elder Law
The document called the Miller Trust allows you to receive Medicaid benefits for long term care services, like nursing home care or community based care, if your income is above the Medicaid eligibility limit. When a Miller Trust is established, your income is deposited into the trust which can be used to pay for the cost of your care. Upon your death, the funds remaining in the trust are used to reimburse the State’s Medicaid Program for the cost of care you received. The document called the Medicaid Asset Protection Trust allows you to protect your assets from being considered for Medicaid eligibility. It enables someone who may otherwise be ineligible for Medicaid to become eligible and receive the care they require whether at home or in a long term care facility. Assets in this trust are no longer considered owned by you.
Business Formation
Delaware is commonly referred to as corporate capital of America. Delaware is home to over 1.5 Million business entities. Deciding whether and when to form a business is an empowering and important decision in one’s life. There are so many decisions to make when embarking upon forming a business entity. What type of business entity should I choose? Should you elect to be a limited liability company, a sole proprietorship or a corporation? Should my entity be formed in Delaware? How much will this cost to form? How much will this cost to maintain? Which type of business entity will protect my individual property from potential creditors? What type of tax exposure will I have?
My firm helps people make these important decisions and prepares business formation documents, and files them with the appropriate state agency so that it is done correctly.
Trustee Services
Delaware is one of the most attractive jurisdictions to settle or form a trust. Delaware has a sophisticated and well-established infrastructure for trust administration. Delaware’s tax structure for trust income, capital gains, and trust distributions, attracts trust settlors from both the United States as well as from all over the globe. While it is common to have a corporate trustee, it is not always the most advantageous decision for every settlor. In that instance, Delaware allows for a flexible structure by statute including individual trustees, excluded trustees, directed trustees, and trust protectors. If you are looking for an individual to work side by side with your family and advisors, my firm can assist.