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

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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Take These Three Steps When Your Child Turns 18

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

If your child has reached the teenage years, you may already feel as though you are losing control of her life. This is legally true once your child reaches the age of 18 because then the state considers your child to be an adult with the legal right to govern his or her own life.…

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Florida Nursing Home Tragedy Causes Rethinking of Disaster Preparedness

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

The recent tragedy in which ten Florida nursing home residents died when the nursing home lost power during Hurricane Irma is causing government officials to rethink disaster planning. In response to the deaths, Florida Governor Rick Scott announced a new emergency rule, requiring nursing homes and assisted living facilities in the state to have generators…

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Uh Oh Irma! Hurricane Season is here – How to protect and prepare!

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

Prepare for the worst and hope for the best. But follow these steps to make sure you are prepared: If your original, signed documents are not in a safety deposit box try the following safe places to store them. They need to be in a watertight container of some sort and put it up high…

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Personal items may be inexpensive, but are priceless for their sentimental value.

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

My clients often come to me with a list of assets such as homes, bank and investment accounts that they would like to pass to their heirs. What is usually missing are the personal items that may not be expensive, but are priceless for their sentimental value. It is often these items that will cause…

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George Michael’s partner ‘gotta have more than “Faith”‘ to inherit from the superstar.

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

At only 53 years old, it is hard to believe that superstar and former Wham! Frontman, George Michael, tragically died of natural causes on Christmas Day in 2016. He was found by, Fadi Fawaz, rumored to be his partner, who is now seemingly going to be kicked out of the star’s home. The singer of…

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“Leave A Legacy, Not A Mess”

Emerald Publications – September, 2007

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