Estate Planning & Elder Law

Estate Planning & Elder Law: What You Need to Know

Personalized Planning To Protect Your Legacy

We understand the importance behind creating and protecting the legacy that you have worked for your entire life. Our experienced and dedicated estate planning attorneys are equipped to help you develop an estate plan that fits your specific needs, whether you are planning for long term care, providing financial support and stability to your family, or preserving your wealth for future generations.
 
The laws surrounding estate planning, taxes and long-term care planning are continually changing. In addition, estate planning can often become complex when there are difficult decisions relating to the guardianship of minor children, estate taxes, and planning with retirement accounts and life insurance policies. Because of this, it is important to work with an experienced firm that will help guide the way to the peace of mind that you deserve.

HOW WE CAN HELP

The following are some of the ways our experienced team of estate planning and elder law attorneys can help you:

Estate Planning and Elder Law: What We Can Do For You

  • Create a comprehensive estate plan that will address what is important to you and your family.
  • Provide customized asset protection strategies to protect your assets from the increasing cost of nursing homes and long-term care.
  • Help you achieve eligibility for Medicaid, Veteran’s Benefits or other government benefits when you need to be in a skilled nursing care in a facility or personal care at home.
  • Develop specialized planning for a family member or child that has special needs that will not disinherit them or jeopardize any benefits they are currently receiving.

Estate Planning vs. Will: What is the Difference?

While connected, there is a difference between an estate plan and a will. A will is part of the more comprehensive estate plan. Documents commonly included in an estate plan are:

  • Will
  • Trust
  • Guardianship
  • Financial Power of Attorney
  • Durable Power of Attorney
  • Living Will/Medical Power of Attorney

What is a Will?

A will is a legal document that declares your final wishes regarding who will receive your property and other assets.

What is a Trust?

A trust is an agreement allowing the Settlor to give rights to hold assets and property to the Trustee on behalf of the Beneficiary.

What is Guardianship?

Guardianship declares who you will want to take care of your dependents in the event of your death or other event that leaves you without the ability to care for your dependents.

What is Financial Power of Attorney?

This document gives someone the power to handle your financial affairs.

What is Durable Power of Attorney?

This document gives someone the power to handle any of your non-health or medical related affairs.

What is a Living Will/Medical Power of Attorney?

A Living Will declares your medical preferences (example, if you want to remain on life support should you require it). The Medical Power of Attorney will give authority to someone to handle your healthcare decisions should you be unable to do so. These two documents are often combined as an Advanced Healthcare Directive.

To read more about all estate planning matters, see our comprehensive guide to Estate Planning.

OUR COMMITMENT

We understand that in order to provide our clients with exceptional and effective legal service, we need to stay on top of legal updates in the arena that we practice in. As a result of this, our estate planning and elder law attorneys are committed to specializing in this area of law in order to provide you and your family with a higher level of knowledge and assurance relating to your estate planning matters.

Estate planning and elder law can be quite complicated, however, working with our team of attorneys can help you navigate your situation. If you are looking for estate planning and elder law services, contact us. Our offices are conveniently located in White Plains, New York, Alexandria, Virginia, and Fredericksburg, Virginia.