ESTATE PLANNING
Family Trust | Special Needs Trust | Asset Protection | Incapacity Planning
Powers of Attorney | Probate Avoidance | Business Succession | Valuation Assistance
Real Estate/Property | Charitable Gifts | Living Wills, End of Life Care
Family Trust
A family trust is an important part of estate planning because it can help ensure that valuable items – including money – are used to benefit the right people. It can also limit when and how that person can use the money or other items to assure that the assets are used according to your wishes.
For a family trust to protect your assets, having the right trust with the right format is very important to avoid legal challenges and related problems. We ensure your trust is set up the right way, to give our clients the peace of mind that comes with knowing that your wishes have been spelled out properly and can be followed by your loved ones when the time comes.
Special Needs Trusts
Setting up a trust for someone with special needs is very important to make sure that any benefits that an individual may be entitled to receive are not placed in jeopardy. For clients who are concerned about leaving a special needs loved one behind, a Special Needs Trust can be an excellent way to have peace of mind and know that person will be cared for properly.
Asset Protection
With various options available, you can keep your assets safe from future lawsuits, judgments, and creditors. After a judgment is issued, it is too late to create such protections. Nevada has very favorable laws to protect your assets. Because asset protection is so important, good estate planning IN ADVANCE can really bring peace of mind.
Incapacity Planning
Many people fear becoming incapacitated. It can take its toll on so many aspects of life. Decide how the assets that are important to you should be distributed, and what kind of care you want and need can all be added to your estate planning information, helping you protect yourself and your loved ones the right way, with legal documentation that can be used to make your wishes known, and to have those wishes followed. The more eventualities we help our clients plan for, the more comfortable they feel about their future.
Powers of Attorney
Giving another person power of attorney can provide comfort if you want your wishes followed if you are not able to make choices for yourself. Powers of attorney “spring” into effect when you are unable to express your own wishes due to unconsciousness, stroke, mental illness, or other impairment, and are an important part of your estate planning package.
Probate Avoidance
In Northern Nevada, many wills go through the court process known as probate. But probate can be avoided! What has become an expensive, difficult, public and time consuming bureaucracy is a default process for people who have not planned ahead. But with a Trust, if properly prepared and funded, NO PROBATE IS NEEDED.
We help clients create estate planning documents that will eliminate the need for probate, reducing the time, money, and stress your loved ones will need to deal with at your death. That can make a significant difference during a very difficult time.
Business Succession
Owning and operating a business can be an excellent way to build wealth and assets to leave to your heirs. If the business is a going concern, it becomes important to plan for business succession, our Northern Nevada law firm can help clients who own businesses to plan to move management and ownership from one person to another.
Valuation Assistance
Valuation of an asset – business or real property, collections, heirlooms and other assets is very important when planning an estate. As you plan your estate, it is important to determine whether it will be subject to the Federal estate tax, or whether the statutory exemption will protect your heirs from taxation altogether.
Valuing your assets is important, especially if an estate is being divided among children or other family members who are to receive equal shares. If “fairness among equals” is important to you, your heirs may need assistance.
Real Estate/Property
Your home or real estate is often a big part of estate planning. For clients who have a home, or who own more than one property (vacation properties, rentals, etc.), determining how your property assets will be handled can seem stressful.
Land owners often just let that property go to whomever among the heirs wishes to reside there, but you may have specific properties that you want to distribute to a certain person. Property can even be donated to charity or given to a business. Estate planning for real property is very important.
Our attorneys can prepare deeds and other documents to assist in the transfer of real estate to your intended beneficiaries, whether or not it is part of your estate plan.
Charitable Gifts
Donations to charity are very common in estate planning. Many people set up a will and other documents that direct money or other assets to charity. Our Northern Nevada law firm can help clients determine what you want to donate to specific charities, and if you desire to place conditions or restrictions on the donation. By include charitable gifts that are important to you in your estate planning, we can help give you peace of mind.
Living Wills, End of Life Care
Having a living will help you feel comfortable about the care you will receive as you near the end of your life. It is used when a person can no longer make healthcare decisions for themselves – particularly whether you wish to be kept alive artificially. Other conditions that can affect whether a living will is used, and our Northern Nevada attorneys can help clients sort out your desires about the care you want and do not want, so your wishes will be followed during a stressful time.
We work with our estate planning clients to be sure you are clear and direct with your end of life care plans and goals. By putting all of your information into the right documents with the legally recognized wording, we can help ensure that your wishes will be followed if you reach the point where such measures must be considered.
By creating a living will that meets your goals and requirements, you no longer have to worry about whether your true wishes would be carried out by family members in the event that you could not make your own healthcare decisions.