Trusts & Estate Planning
How We Can Help
We help create your Trust 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 Trusts and 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
What is an "Estate Plan"?
You don't need a mansion in Beverly Hills to need an Estate Plan. Your greatest asset is your independence and autonomy. An "Estate Plan" allows us to prepare a variety of documents to make sure the state or county doesn't step in to control your wishes during your lifetime and following your life.
Estate Planning is the planning of your estate for after your life. Your estate includes all of your money (savings, investments, etc.), your life insurance, your house, other real estate, your business, all of your personal property, and even your pets. By planning what you want to happen to these things before your death, you can guarantee that your life’s work will garner the respect it deserves after your death by having your wishes honored. Your estate plan will also protect you as you get older, making sure you are safe and taken care of. In addition to this, estate planning helps protect your children, family members, and pets amid a hard time, helping them avoid the stress of planning your estate after you are gone. Our team can help you achieve all that you want to with your legacy and to protect it.
What is a will?
I like to say a will is a "Dear Judge Letter." A will is not dispositive and must be administered in a process called Probate. Your Last Will and Testament describes how you wish your affairs to be handled and how your assets will be distributed following your death during the probate process.
What is a Trust?
I hear clients ask “Why do I Need a Trust” every day. A Trust holds your money or property in a special way. It helps you avoid probate and keeps your plans private. It's a strong tool to help you and your family.
Take a look at my recent Article regarding What to Expect at an "Estate Plan Consultation"
What can our team do for you?
We develop your personalized plan using a variety of documents such as Wills, Trusts, Health Care Directives and Powers of Attorney to meet your individual needs and goals. We help develop the plan to best protects your assets and your family’s future; while maintaining family privacy and keeping control of your wishes.
We discuss what your values are, what your needs are and how your needs and the needs of your family can be protected and represented in your Estate Plan.
Our unique law firm experience is a 5-step proven process you will be 100% thrilled with.
Unlike other firms, we don't just sell documents, we deliver peace of mind. We communicate with you, listen to you, and we treat you with the same care and respect we'd want for our own family.
We have streamlined the estate plan process, so you can spend less time at your lawyer’s office
and more time living your life!
The JakobLegal Difference: 5-step process:
1. We Get to Know Eachother
You will be assigned a Client Coordinator who will immediately begin helping you to prepare for your appointment. You will chat with us about your goals, concerns, and your family. We will schedule your signing date so you'll know your goal is in sight.
2. Meet with your Attorney
At your attorney meeting, once our client agreement is signed, we will begin our promised attorney/customer service experience. We will curate the best plan to achieve your goals and ease your concerns at this comprehensive appointment.
3. Personalized Plan Developed
Our team will roll up their sleeves to begin your personalized and detailed plan design. It will be developed and tailored to your exact needs, and the appropriate documents will be drafted.
4. Signing Meeting
At the signing, we'll go over every detail and ensure you fully comprehend your plan. We simplify complex legal jargon, making it accessible to you and your family, so you don't need legal expertise to understand how it benefits you.
5. Life Happens:
We are all human and life has its unexpected twists and turns. Our promise to you is
we will help you along the way and be here for your family when you need it the most.
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
Links and Resources
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…
Read MoreI 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…
Read MoreA 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…
Read MoreThe 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.…
Read MoreGuardians 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
Read MoreThe 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…
Read MoreAre 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…
Read MoreWhat 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…
Read MoreMore 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…
Read MoreEven 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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