Many people consider estate planning to be solely about protecting assets against overzealous predation by the IRS and the state of California after death. While this is of course part of it, truly effective estate planning is about much more than that. It is in essence a way to plan your life. It should ensure the financial, physical and emotional well-being of you, your spouse and the people you love for years to come. Take into account how you will be cared for in the event of severe illness or incapacity. Give you complete control over your affairs. And it must allow you to give what you want to whom you want when you want.
Basic Estate Planning
Contrary to popular opinion, estate planning is not just for extremely wealthy people. Every family can benefit from an estate plan. Even a basic estate plan can prevent the IRS and state of California from determining how your assets will be distributed after you pass away, streamline the distribution of those assets, and ensure your wishes about who gets what are carried out.
A basic estate plan can also ensure you will have control over your financial and healthcare decisions if you become incapacitated. If you don’t have a properly designed and implemented plan, someone you might not want to make decisions for you could petition the court for control over your finances and medical care. This should be avoided at all costs, not just for your benefit, but also for the benefit of your loved ones.
We offer the following basic estate planning services and more:
- Wills
- Powers of Attorney
- Health Care Directives
- HIPAA Authorizations
- Revocable Living Trusts
- Advanced Estate Planning
It is particularly important for families of substantial means to have a custom estate plan prepared by an experienced estate planning attorney. The reason for this is simple: wealthy families without an estate plan have more to lose than families of more modest means. They also have significantly more to gain. As a wealthy individual or family, you must concern yourself with issues like:
- Protecting your hard-earned assets
- Assuring the continuance of your lifestyle
- Passing your values, sense of responsibility and work ethic to heirs
- Significantly reducing income, estate, excise, and generation skipping taxes
- Ensuring your affairs are kept private
- Protecting your heirs’ inheritances if they are not yet mature enough to make responsible decisions on their own
- Making sure your heirs’ inheritances are protected if they divorce, remarry, or succumb to the influence of predators
- Ensuring your impact on society and legacy endures
We have years of experience utilizing advanced estate planning strategies and tools to meet the unique requirements of high net worth families.
Our services in this area include:
- Irrevocable Trusts
- Dynasty Trusts
- Life Insurance Trusts
- Family Limited Partnerships
- Limited Liability Companies
- Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts
- Qualified Personal Residence Trusts
- Gift Programs
- Retirement Trusts
- Generation-Skipping Trusts
- Minors’ Trusts
- Tax Planning
By working collaboratively with you and any of your existing advisors, we can design and implement a sophisticated estate plan capable of meeting all of your needs and achieving your goals. Contact us today for an initial consultation.
