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

ElderLaw-Attorney (2)

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

A Bit of Relief for Retirement Account Owners

By Andrea Jakob | May 28, 2020
IRA Savings

The coronavirus pandemic caused the stock market to tumble, depleting many retirement accounts. RMDs for this year would be based on the value of the account at the end of 2019, when the account likely had more money in it because the stock market was at a high point. Although the market has rallied somewhat, it still isn’t back to where it was at the end of 2019.

Read More

Spare your Heirs Undue Stress

By Andrea Jakob | May 18, 2020

Organize your wishes so your heirs don’t have undue stress.

Open to download my Ultimate Organizer PDF so that your family will have less stress during a very stressful time.

Read More

Five Common Mistakes with “DIY” (Do It Yourself) Estate Plans

By Andrea Jakob | May 7, 2020
Senior man and woman couple embracing at sunset or sunrise on a deserted tropical beach. They relay in Jakob Legal for Probate

A DIY estate plan can lead to a false sense of security because it may not achieve what you think it does. If your DIY will is not valid, your property and money will go to heirs specified by state law—who may not be the people you would have chosen. An unfunded trust will be ineffective.

Read More

How to Protect Your Will From Unhappy Relatives

By Andrea Jakob | May 5, 2020
Contesting a Will

Will contests should be avoided at all costs. Not only can a contest derail your final wishes, but it can also rapidly deplete your estate and wreak emotional havoc on the family members left behind. Fear not. With proper planning, you can prevent that from happening.

Read More

Don’t Risk it: Protect Your Finances From Coronavirus Complications

By Andrea Jakob | April 28, 2020
Don't social distance your family from important matters

While feeling healthy, individuals should plan ahead now and ensure that someone will take care of their financial duties by setting up a Financial Power of Attorney.

Read More

Preparing for Coronavirus: The #1 Legal Document Every Adult Needs to Have

By Andrea Jakob | April 20, 2020

As the coronavirus continues to disrupt daily life and leave Americans uncertain of the future, you don’t have to feel helpless during this pandemic. In fact, now is a great time to be proactive and plan ahead should you or a loved one fall ill. One of the most important and relatively easy things you can do (and should do) is to select a medical agent and set up your advance healthcare directive.

Read More

How Your Stimulus Check Affects Medicaid Eligibility

By Andrea Jakob | April 13, 2020
Jakob Legal - Elder Law

Medicaid recipients are wondering how the payment from the stimulus check will affect their eligibility.

Read More

You Can Now Meet With Your Doctor Remotely! Telehealth Coverage Expanded

By Andrea Jakob | April 7, 2020
Adult using Computer

As part of its response to the coronavirus pandemic, the federal government is broadly expanding coverage of Medicare telehealth services to beneficiaries and relaxing HIPAA enforcement. This will give doctors the ability to provide more services to patients remotely.

Read More

Whatever Happened to “The Reading of the Will?”

By Andrea Jakob | April 3, 2020
Reading the will painting by Erdmann

Many movies and television shows have a scene where a family gathers around a big table after a relative has died to listen to the reading of the will. While this makes for a dramatic scene, one that may have been more common when literacy rates were lower, it doesn’t usually happen this way in the modern world.

Read More

Why You Should Reevaluate Your Estate Plan Now

By Andrea Jakob | April 3, 2020
face mask

Unfortunately, this global health crisis can affect all aspects of your life. You should make sure you have these essential documents in place to protect yourself and your family

Read More

“Leave A Legacy, Not A Mess”

Emerald Publications – September, 2007

Get The Ultimate Life Organizer

There's a lot to think about when you're collecting information for your estate plan. Download our free 17 page Complete Life Organizer and make sure you have everything covered!

ultimate-planner