Trusts and Your Estate Plan

How We Can Help

We help create your Wills, Trusts and and comprehensive Estate Planning solutions tailored to your specific needs and goals. Our dedicated team is here to support you in developing personalized Living Wills, Powers of Attorney, Health Care Directives, and robust Estate Plans.

You're Unique, So Your Plan Should Be Too.

We listen carefully to what you need.  We work closely with you to create a strategy that effectively protects your assets and ensures the future well-being of your family.  With our guidance, we can help you develop and maintain family privacy and fulfillment of your your wishes.

Protecting Your Family And Your Future

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What is a Trust?

A Trust holds your money or property in a special way. It helps you avoid probate and keeps your plan private. It's a strong tool to help you and your family.

A trust functions as a legal arrangement where assets, such as money or property, are placed in a "bucket" to hold your assets.  You create specific instructions in case of incapacity or death as to how your trust assets should be distributed.  It can avoid probate and is a private family matter.  Essentially, it's a strategic tool for protecting your children, wealth management and ensuring that your assets are handled according to your wishes, without interference from the State or Court.

 

 

Effective Trusts & Estate Planning Services

A trust may offer you a variety of advantages, such as:

  • Avoiding Probate
  • Protecting Adult Children from their Potential Mistakes
  • Minimizing or Avoiding Tax Consequences
  • Keeping Financial Information Private
  • Setting Money Aside for Your Children and Grand Children
  • Setting Aside Money for Potential Disability or Long-Term Care
  • Assisting with Supplemental Needs or Special Needs
  • Obtaining Medicaid for yourself or a loved one

Types Of Trusts

  • Revocable Living Trust
  • Living Trust
  • Joint Trust
  • Spendthrift Trust
  • Irrevocable Trust
  • Medicaid Trust
  • Land Trust
  • Testamentary Trust

Are Estate Plans Necessary For Everybody?

Links and Resources

You Can Give Away More Tax Free in 2018

By Andrea Jakob | December 27, 2019
Estate Planning, Wills And Trusts

After staying the same for five years, the amount you can give away to any one individual in a particular year without reporting the gift will increase in 2018. The annual gift tax exclusion for 2018 is rising from $14,000 to $15,000. This means that any person who gives away $15,000 or less to any…

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Wealth vs. Health

By Andrea Jakob | December 27, 2019
Estate Planning, Wills And Trusts

I came across this great article in Forbes’ Wells Fargo Voice from last month written by Alice Lesch Kelly that I want to share: Wealth Vs. Health: Take A Balanced Approach: (Go to: Forbes for original post, mostly reproduced here). We all need balance in our lives and this article provides some great strategies for…

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How Will You Know if Your College- Aged Child is Hurt? HIPAA Laws May Mean You Won’t.

By Andrea Jakob | December 27, 2019
Estate Planning, Wills And Trusts

A Little Peace of Mind Goes a Long Way. You’ve tried to prepare them in every way you can for college, but how can you make sure your children will be protected when you’re not around? Are they prepared for a medical emergency? It’s hard to believe, but privacy laws can prevent doctors from discussing…

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Use Your Will to Dictate How to Pay Your Debts

By Andrea Jakob | December 27, 2019
Estate Planning, Wills And Trusts

The main purpose of a will is to direct where your assets will go after you die, but it can also be used to instruct your heirs how to pay your debts. While generally heirs cannot inherit debt, debt can reduce what they receive. Spelling out how debt should be paid can help your heirs.…

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How the Elderly Lose Their Rights!

By Andrea Jakob | December 27, 2019
Estate Planning, Wills And Trusts

Guardians can sell the assets and control the lives of senior citizens without their consent – and reap a profit from it. Everyone must read this great article from the October 9, 2017 issue of the New Yorker by Rachel Aviv.  – Click Here for New Yorker Article

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Nursing Home Costs Rise Sharply in 2017

By Andrea Jakob | December 27, 2019
Estate Planning, Wills And Trusts

The median cost of a private nursing home room in the United States has increased to $97,455 a year, up 5.5 percent from 2016, according to Genworth’s 2017 Cost of Care survey, which the insurer conducts annually. Genworth reports that the median cost of a semi-private room in a nursing home is $85,775, up 4.44…

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Now Is the Time to Review Your Medicare Options

By Andrea Jakob | December 26, 2019
Estate Planning, Wills And Trusts

Are you happy with your current Medicare plan or plans? Now is the time to think about whether you are in the right plan or whether a new plan could save you money. Medicare’s Open Enrollment Period, in which you can enroll in or switch plans, runs from October 15 to December 7. During this…

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How to Reverse Medicare Surcharges When Your Income Changes

By Andrea Jakob | December 11, 2019
Estate Planning, Wills And Trusts

What happens if you are a high-income Medicare beneficiary who is paying a surcharge on your premiums and then your income changes? If your circumstances change, you can reverse those surcharges. Higher-income Medicare beneficiaries (individuals who earn more than $85,000) pay higher Part B and prescription drug benefit premiums than lower-income Medicare beneficiaries. The extra…

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Digital Assets Raise Estate Planning Questions

By Andrea Jakob | December 11, 2019
Estate Planning, Wills And Trusts

More and more, we are conducting our business on the Internet, whether that’s online banking, shopping at Amazon and other sites, uploading documents and files to the “cloud,” posting videos on YouTube, or communicating with high school classmates via Facebook. So, what happens to all of our accounts and files when we become incapacitated or…

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Four Provisions People Forget to Include in Their Estate Plan

By Andrea Jakob | December 11, 2019
Estate Planning, Wills And Trusts

Even if you’ve created an estate plan, are you sure you included everything you need to? There are certain provisions that people often forget to put in in a will or estate plan that can have a big impact on your family. Alternate Beneficiaries One of the most important things your estate plan should include…

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“Leave A Legacy, Not A Mess”

Emerald Publications – September, 2007

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