Estate & Gift Tax Figures

The amount that can be passed free of federal tax. Whatever amount is used during lifetime is no longer available for use to pass assets at death. The Estate and Gift Tax Applicable Exclusion is currently $11.7 million.

Estate Planning for Family-Owned Businesses

The amount that can be passed free of Family business owners face unique challenges surrounding how to preserve the family business—a symbol of their heritage. Sadly, over 70 percent of all family businesses don’t survive the transition to the next generation. Estate taxes play a significant role in that problem

Guardian & Conservatorship

The amount that can be passed free of Statistics show that you will likely need long-term health care at some point in your life. In 2017, approximately 41 million family caregivers in the United States provided an estimated 34 billion hours of care to an adult with limitations in daily activities.

IRA inheritance Planning

The amount that can be passed free of At first glance, the concept of Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA), 401(k)’s and other retirement plans seems simple enough: A structured way to save for your golden years while deferring taxes on your growing nest egg. Unfortunately, that simple idea becomes one of the most complex areas of estate planning once IRS rules are applied.

IRA inheritance Planning

The amount that can be passed free of At first glance, the concept of Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA), 401(k)’s and other retirement plans seems simple enough: A structured way to save for your golden years while deferring taxes on your growing nest egg. Unfortunately, that simple idea becomes one of the most complex areas of estate planning once IRS rules are applied.

LGBTQ Estate Planning

Estate planning is critical for everyone: single, married, straight and LGBTQ. However, for the LGBTQ community, estate planning provides protections to help guard against discrimination when people are reluctant to recognize your relationship, even if you are married.

Medicaid & Elder Law Planning

An important step you can take in life is putting together a plan for Medicaid and overall elder law planning. It’s understandable that you don’t want to discuss the not-so-distant future and the inevitable. But, the longer you put it off, the more likely it is that you will make it difficult on your family should die without a will or estate plan in place.

Minor Children & Young Adult Planning

Who would care for your children should you become incapacitated in an accident or die unexpectedly from an illness or accident? Would your children live with their grandparents? If so, which set of grandparents? Where would they go to school? These are questions that you likely don’t want to consider right now because talking about death is never easy.

Outdated Estate Planning Documents

Review the questions below to see if it is time for an Estate Plan Check-Up

1. Has it been more than 3 years since you reviewed your current estate plan?
2. If you have minor children, does your estate plan name Guardians for them?

Pet Planning

When it comes to protecting your pet, no one does it better than you do.

You love them…
You feed them…
You make sure they have everything they need to live a happy, healthy life.

Powers of Attorney, Healthcare & Emergency Documents

When you decide it’s time to create an estate plan there are important documents that should always be included no matter your age, marital status, or if you do or do not have children. These include powers of attorney, healthcare and emergency documents. 

Remarriage and Blended Family Protection

Entering into a second, third, or subsequent marriage is an exciting time in your life. However, it can be extremely stressful and worrisome if you have children. To make matters even more challenging, what happens if your new spouse also has children from a previous marriage?

Secure Act

This is a positive change and will benefit you if you have a large amount of tax-deferred savings in an IRA. You can now grow your IRA money for another year and a half if you’re not yet in a position where you need to start taking your RMDs.

Special Needs Planning

Caregiving for a special needs child often falls on siblings, other family members, and even the community when a parent is no longer able to care for the child due to incapacity or death. The cost of care increases when it switches from the parents to professionals since many parents are able to care for their special needs child at home.

Trust Administration & Probate

If your family has experienced the loss of a family member, our law firm can assist you with the legal process that occurs when a loved one passes away. Our law firm strongly believes that a wisely drafted, carefully executed estate plan is the critical component of a family’s wealth management.

Will & Trusts

Wills and trusts are two important legal documents you can create to protect your assets and final wishes upon your death. Thinking about the inevitable is never easy. Having the same discussion with your spouse or adult children is even more difficult. However, planning for the future is a great way to reduce the stress your family will go through once you are gone.