Estate Planning Services
Estate Planning
Why is Estate Planning Important?
Estate planning is more than ensuring your assets are received by your loved ones. It provides instructions for your care and financial affairs if you become incapacitated and unable to care for yourself. It allows you to designate a guardian, as well as provide for your children in the event you pass away while they are minors. It gives you the ability to provide for family members with special needs as well as those who might struggle with substance abuse, or be irresponsible with money. And a good estate plan does all this while minimizing tax consequences, court costs and legal fees.
What should be included in my estate plan?
What is an Estate Planning Attorney?
In its simplest form, an estate planning attorney helps with the creation of the legal documents necessary to set forth your intentions and expectations for your care if you are no longer able to make those decisions yourself, as well as what happens to your assets upon your death.
What Are the Risks If I Do Not Create an Estate Plan?
If you have no estate plan, and become incapacitated or disabled, the state will determine how your assets will be used to care for you. In addition, without an estate plan, any assets owned in your individual name and without a beneficiary designation, will be distributed according to New York’s intestacy laws, which might not be your wish. And if there are minor children, and both parents die, the court will be the one to appoint a guardian for your children.
What is the Process of Estate Planning?
The first step is to contact Rochford Law & Mediation to guide you through the estate planning process. We work with you to identify the goal of your estate plan, and determine how it can best be accomplished. Depending on your situation, discussion may include such topics as beneficiary designations, powers of appointment, property ownership, gifting opportunities, powers of attorney, health care decisions and the creation of specific types of trusts. Once you are comfortable with your customized plan, the necessary legal documents will be drafted for execution. Rochford Law & Mediation is with you every step of the way.