Estate Planning

An estate plan is a legal document that outlines your wishes to distribute your possessions if you die or become incapacitated. Examples of assets that could be included in a person’s estate are:

• Houses, 
• Vehicles,
• Stocks, 
• Fine art, 
• Life insurance, 
• Pensions, and 
• Debt

There are many reasons for filing an estate plan. You could use it to conserve your family’s wealth. If you want to support your family if the unthinkable happens, estate plans can do that for you. They can also help pay for your children’s and grandchildren’s education or leave something for a charity you support. 

Our talented estate planning lawyer in Princeton, NJ, can assist clients with practically all aspects of wills, trusts, and estate planning, such as:

Probate

Probate is the process that happens under a person dies. The procedure involves:

• Filing a probate case, 
• Naming an executor, 
• Informing all estate’s heirs, 
• Combining all bank accounts, 
• Settling any outstanding debts, and 
• Distributing the estate’s assets. 

The entire judicial procedure wastes a lot of time and money. Not to mention, it also delays when your loved ones can receive their inheritance. There’s also a chance that your assets will go to someone you did not want. 

By avoiding probate, you save your loved ones’ time and money, as well as ensure that they receive their intended inheritance. 

Trust

A trust is a legal instrument that authorizes a trustee to keep and manage assets for the benefit of its beneficiaries.

A trust is one of the ways to evade probate. This helps maintain your information’s confidentiality and safeguard the property and assets inside your estate. The assets you own, such as real estate, land, equities, bonds, and bank accounts, are used to fund a trust. 

Trust can help you:

• Establish the inheritance payout schedule
• Escape probate and probate court
• Reduce your vulnerability to creditor litigation
• Minimize your estate taxes
• Establish lifetime access to your assets for your child or adult with special needs

When you die, your appointed representative promptly distributes the trust’s assets to the beneficiaries you’ve named.

Will

It is a legal document detailing your last wishes. A will should at least specify the following:

• Who will be the executor, the person to administer your estate after the death
• Whether and how taxes and debt are paid
• Guardians for your children
• Asset distribution
• What will happen to your personal and real property 
• Here are some things you can also address when you create your will:
• Disinheritance of your spouse and children
• Potential obstacles to your will
• Future care for your pets

The probate court will read your will after your death. As mentioned, one of their jobs is to ensure that your desires are followed. One small mistake can spell trouble for your loved ones. Don’t let that happen to them. Call our experienced Princeton estate planning attorney today!

Power of Attorney

This appoints an agent to make choices on behalf of a loved one if they cannot do so themselves. The agent makes decisions depending on the loved one’s expressed desires. These agents must be properly selected, as they must be reliable. 

Below are some examples of what a power of attorney can grant an agent::

• Make financial decisions
• Donate cash as presents
• Make medical treatment decisions, including the initiation, cessation, or postponement of diagnostic testing 

In New Jersey, there are four common types of power of attorney:

• General Power of Attorney. A general power of attorney grants the agent the authority to decide anything. A general power of attorney expires when the principal revokes the authority, becomes disabled, or dies.
• Durable Power of Attorney. A durable power of attorney is distinct because a power of attorney does not expire even when the client becomes incapacitated.
• Special or Limited Power of Attorney. These are customizable powers of attorney. They can be altered to offer just specified rights to the agent, like selling the loved one’s real properties and assets.
• Springing Durable Power of Attorney. This document permits an agent to be awarded power of attorney for a limited time, such as when a loved one becomes disabled, and it is only accessible in certain states.

Regardless of the loved one’s decision, we urge you to contact our skilled Princeton estate planning attorney. We also recommend that you understand your loved one’s desires while they can still convey them to you.

Special Needs Planning

There is nothing more vital than protecting your family. With this crucial purpose in mind, our attorneys provide our clients with various estate planning services. Special needs planning is a major worry for clients who have a disabled child.

Special needs planning entails the drafting and assessing estate planning arrangements, such as special needs trusts. This is meant to assist disabled individuals in protecting their eligibility for different government benefits. Certain government benefits are restricted to those with low financial resources, and a sizable inheritance might risk a person’s eligibility for these benefits.

Creating a Special Needs Trust

If you have a disabled family member, you must act immediately. Creating a special needs trust or taking other legal precautions to safeguard a disabled family member will give both the safety they require and the peace of mind you deserve.

Our seasoned estate planning attorney in New Jersey can give complete guidance, including the following:

• Drafting a special needs trust 
• Legal documents that precisely specify who will care for a disabled child or adult in the event of your death or incapacity
• Other essential legal safeguards to protect a disabled family member

Conservatorship

The conservator administers the individual’s financial affairs, including collecting assets and income, managing them, and maintaining their worth. Conservators are typically family members in their role as guardians of the person. They may also be family members, government institutions, attorneys, an organization, or a conservator.

Mental incapacity is not a requirement to establish a conservatorship, although that is typically the case. The appointment of a conservator is voluntary and is occasionally made with the conservatee’s approval. The conservator is required to provide for the individual’s care. The conservator is authorized and required to:

• Make payments for the conservatee’s education, care, and assistance
• Pay any legal debts the conservatee owes
• Collect and manage the conservatee’s assets
• Collect any monies owed to the conservatee
• Pay all due taxes
• Collaborate in estate planning

Conservators are usually required to apply for Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security benefits on behalf of a person.

Guardianship

Guardianship is the judicial procedure of appointing a guardian to represent a mentally incapacitated individual. Individuals cannot designate a guardian for themselves. Appointments to the role of the guardian are not voluntary. In New Jersey, an interested person or entity makes a formal application declaring that an individual is incapable of managing their affairs and requires a guardian.

Typically, medical proof, such as the testimony of a psychiatrist or gerontologist, is necessary to establish that a person lacks mental capacity. Once proven, the court examines the applicant’s qualities for guardianship. 

All decisions made by the guardian must be in the individual’s best interest. Guardians can also choose the individual’s companions. Certain acts, such as administering drugs with severe adverse effects, may require extrajudicial clearance.