Your Estate Planning Roadmap
As HVP partner Mary Piasta explains in her recent blog post, Get It, Your Peace of Mind, a solid estate plan in its simplest sense is a roadmap. It identifies your chosen decision-makers for when you cannot manage your own affairs before you die and to handle your effects after death. Specialized planning can also minimize your long-term care expenses or eliminate them entirely. And a solid estate plan documents your wishes for the distribution of your worldly belongings, facilitating estate administration and probate proceedings.
Wills and Trusts
To get started, we explain the basics of wills and trusts, and help choose the right vehicle for you. You can choose from options ranging from a relatively simple document that directs the distribution of property after death, to trusts that arrange for management and distribution of assets, guardianships, and asset-protection options.
Estate Planning―Tools for Life
Beyond basic estate planning, our team of lawyers will help you navigate the essential considerations we call “Tools for Life.” Under our guidance, powers of attorney, conservatorships, healthcare directives, long-term care planning, and tax minimization strategies are utilized to make sure that your needs are always met, including when you age and after you are gone.
Asset Preservation
We evaluate your financial situation to determine how preserve assets during your life and to benefit future generations. We employ legal knowledge and business acumen to take a comprehensive approach to estate planning. Our goals are to simplify your estate, protect your property, business and other assets in the face of long-term care, taxes, liens, and other issues that may arise, and ensure that your wishes are carried out.
Succession Planning
For family-owned businesses and wealthy individuals, succession planning factors heavily into a comprehensive estate plan. At the core of what we do, our estate planning team laser-focuses on the strategies and wealth preservation that facilitate wealth transfer from one generation to the next.
Administration and Probate
Our background in estate planning makes us the logical choice to administer your estate and handle probate. We draw on our legacy of client service to work with family members and their advisors. We handle all aspects of distributions, probate proceedings, and post-mortem tax planning for estates of all sizes and complexities.
Elder Law
Our experience across the full range of estate planning and administration issues informs our advice on elder law. We work with you to preserve income and assets for your benefit and care, and to address concerns regarding healthcare, long term care planning, guardianship, and other important matters.