OVERVIEW
J. Douglas McCarthy & Associates, P.C. can assist you with all of your estate planning needs. A proper estate plan should shield your family and your estate from costly fees and taxes while maximizing the assets that are transferred to your heirs. Estate plans allow you and members of your family to resolve the potentially complicated and emotional distribution of assets, long before your plan will be used. A recent survey by Lawyers.comsm found that 18% of Americans have personally experienced problems after the death or incapacitation of a loved one due to lack of or a poorly prepared estate plan. Although you may think that your family knows your wishes, the government may have different ideas. The benefits of a properly structured estate plan are tremendous. Most importantly it can eliminate the estate going through probate. Probate is often viewed as the meddling and interference of the court system in the deceased’s personal affairs, which often times leads to a lengthy process of distributing the estate of the decedent’s assets to the heirs. Your personal information also becomes public knowledge during probate and probate often leads to additional legal fees and taxes for the estate. This could cause decedent’s wishes to be unfulfilled.
TOP 10 MOST COMMON GOALS OF ESTATE PLANNING
- Avoid the expense of probate
- Avoid the time delay of probate
- Keep our private matters private
- Avoid confrontation with unhappy family or friends
- Provide for you minor children
- Reduce or avoid Federal Estate and Gift Taxes
- Allows review of IRA and retirement plan beneficiaries
- Allow flexibility of your assets
- Protection from creditors
- Plan for incapacity
J. Douglas McCarthy & Associates, P.C. has extensive experience in preparing estate plans. Our firm offers our clients legal expertise in all aspects of planning for their futures, and providing for the ones they love. By assisting clients in analyzing their goals and objectives, we will provide a customized estate plan designed to meet all of their desires and objectives. We will work with you to create trusts, wills, living wills, powers of attorney and appointment, and health care directives. The most important estate-planning goal of every client is to ensure that his or her personal matters and financial affairs are appropriately handled upon his or her death or disability.
