Practice Areas
Estate Planning, Estate Administration, Probate, and Wealth Management
We so often hear that hard work is the path to achieving the American dream. But retaining as much of our earnings as possible for our family can be a challenge. An experienced estate planning attorney can work with you to assure that your hard work results in the accumulation of assets that are protected from liabilities. Asset protection planning can insure that tax liabilities are minimized for your family after you have gone. Contact an estate planning attorney today to get started.
Frequently Asked Questions about Estate Planning
Q: What is a will?
A: A will is a written legal document with instructions for distributing an individual's assets after his or her death. A will must be formally executed as required by state law to be legally valid and enforceable. State law prescribes how many witnesses may be required, who the witnesses may be, and often provides instructions for a will to be “self-proving” so that the witnesses do not later have to appear in court to testify to the authenticity of the will.
Q: How can a person change his or her will?
A: A will is typically valid and effective until it is revoked, destroyed, or invalidated by writing a new will. Alterations to an existing will, such as crossing out language or adding a new provision, do not usually meet the legal requirements for executing a valid will and do not affect the terms of an existing will; however, changes or additions to an existing will can be made by codicil. A codicil is a document executed in compliance with applicable state law that modifies an existing will or codicil. Typically, state law requires that a codicil be executed with the same formalities as a will.
My practice in estate planning includes wealth transfer planning, estate administration, and probate litigation. Understanding legal principles is important but being able to apply them to achieve a particular result for a client is even more significant. With the constant changes in estate tax laws and trust and probate codes, it is more important than ever to understand the consequences of the actions that a client wishes to take.
Many people have a goal of avoiding probate in order to save money, preserve the privacy of their family’s financial situation or solve some other problem. This can often be accomplished through the intelligent use of trusts, joint tenancy, and other means of asset distribution outside of the court process at the time of death. Individual circumstances determine whether or not probate is advisable or necessary in the case of a given decedent. To schedule a consultation with an experienced estate planning lawyer who practices in Washington, DC, Florida, Maryland, New York and Virginia, contact Pamela B. Stuart through this Web site or by calling her office at 202-835-2200 (DC), 772-492-1223 (Vero Beach, FL) or 212-332-8915 (New York, NY). You may learn more about estate planning and probate through the content on this page, but it is not intended to address your particular legal situation which would require a personal consultation.
Estate Planning - An Overview
Estate planning allows an individual to plan for the management of his or her assets during life, to set up a plan for disability during life, to meet lifetime objectives of wealth acquisition, and to provide direction about the disposition of his or her assets after death. Estate planning may include wills and trusts, including trusts for lifetime income and charitable giving, life insurance trusts for tax planning, as well as retirement asset planning, powers of attorney and health care directives.
Estate planning is affected by both state and federal law. Generally, your estate will be governed by the law of the state in which you are domiciled at the time of your death. If you own more than one residence, you may be a resident of more than one state but, as a general matter, your domicile is where you intend to remain and to return to live on a permanent basis. While state law governs how your property will be distributed and your will probated, both state and federal law will determine how your assets will be taxed upon your death.
The tax code presents a trap for the unwary in estate matters and, depending upon your individual situation, elaborate or creative legal means may be necessary to minimize the estate tax burden. This is especially true if you or your spouse is not a U.S. citizen. Some of these more complex techniques include trusts, family limited partnerships (FLPs), and limited liability companies (LLCs), which may be established to own certain assets. An estate planning lawyer can be an essential ally in assuring that your estate planning goals are understood and carried out. If you have estate planning-related legal questions, call my office to schedule a consultation with me.
Estate Planning Basic Documents
Because estate planning allows an individual to ensure that property will go to the people he or she wants to have it, it is important for everyone to have an estate plan. An estate plan can help reduce tax liabilities, court costs, and attorneys' fees, and it can also make it easier for families to cope with the administrative and financial issues that arise after the loss of family members. Because of the ease in administration, I almost always recommend that a trust be established to hold a person’s assets and draft a “pour-over” will to take care of the distribution of any assets that were not included in the trust for reasons of state law, inadvertence or mistake.
A basic estate plan should typically include at the very least two important estate planning instruments: a durable power of attorney and a will. A durable power of attorney is a document that authorizes a person to make decisions for a person who has become incapacitated, including decisions about the incapacitated person's property. A will is a document that sets out the plan to distribute a person’s property after her or his death. However, I do not believe these documents are sufficient for a proper estate plan. Iin my opinion, there is no such thing as a “simple will.”
Documents relating to medical care should also be part of an estate plan. Documents to consider include a medical directive (also called an advance directive, a physician's directive, a written directive, or a durable power of attorney for health care) to designate a person to make health care decisions for a person who has become incapacitated, temporarily or permanently, to make health care decisions for himself or herself.. In addition, I recommend preparation of a living will to express a person's desire regarding the use of extraordinary measures to extend her or his life when there is no reasonable expectation of recovery.
When I prepare an estate plan for you, you will receive documents that have been custom-tailored to your individual situation.
Estate Planning and Financial Goals
Estate planning can help to identify and plan for financial needs during life and after death. Financial needs to consider include retirement income, college funding, replacement income following an unforeseen illness or disability, and the needs of surviving family members. To meet these financial goals and to ensure appropriate utilization of assets during life and orderly and efficient distribution of assets after death, an estate plan may include making gifts to individuals and charities during life, purchasing life insurance, using revocable and irrevocable trusts, purchasing annuities, and rearranging personal and business interests. In addition to federal gift and estate taxes, state inheritance taxes, which vary from state to state, must also be considered to meet financial objectives.
Conclusion
Asset protection strategies, health care directives, powers of attorney, and other estate planning devices are an integral part of the services that an estate planning attorney can provide. If you have questions about estate planning, contact my office at 202-835-2200 (DC), 772-492-1223 (Vero Beach, FL) or 212-332-8915 (New York, NY).
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