Estate Planning (Wills and Trusts)  

To avoid the expense of guardianship due to incapacity and probate administration due to death, and to save your loved ones of the expense, delay and frustration associated with court supervised guardianship and probate administration, you should have the following:

1.    Power of Attorney A power of attorney is a legal document which authorizes another to act on your behalf while you are living.  It avoids the need to have a court appointed guardian if you become incapacitated. 2.    Healthcare Surrogate A designation of healthcare surrogate authorizes another to make medical decisions on your behalf if you are incapable of making such decisions. 3.    Living Will A living will is a legal document stating that you do not wish to have your living artificially prolonged. 4.    Medical Authorization With the privacy laws, your trusted loved ones may not be able to obtain medical information about you unless you have signed a medical authorization. This will help your loved ones in assisting with your care.

5.    Living Trust

A living trust is a legal document used to avoid court supervised probate administration.  Assets are transferred to the living trust.  The person establishing the trust designates an initial trustee (usually the person establishing the trust), and successor trustees (usually surviving spouse and adult children) who manage the assets upon your incapacity or death.  The living trust sets forth your wishes as to the disposition of assets upon your death.  A living trust can be used to avoid the expense of court supervised probate administration.

6.    Last Will and Testament

An important document to have if all of your assets do not automatically pass to another.  Very important to have if you have children who are not the children of your current spouse.

Services in providing these legal documents are handled on an hourly basis, including the initial consultation, plus expenses.