Estate Planning Attorney Serving Altoona
No matter what stage of life you’ve reached, estate planning can help you protect your interests and hard work and prepare for the future. Families in Altoona can benefit from experienced legal counsel to develop comprehensive estate plans to protect their legal and personal interests or family wealth. At Kreisher Marshall & Associates, our knowledgeable estate planning attorneys can discuss how our firm can help you build an estate plan tailored to your needs.
Why Choose an Estate Planning Lawyer from Kreisher Marshall & Associates?
Estate planning may become one of the most important legal tasks you ever undertake. Choosing the right estate planning attorney can help you secure a tailored, comprehensive, practical legal strategy for your financial and legal needs. Turn to an estate planning lawyer from Kreisher Marshall & Associates to guide you through the estate planning process because:
- Our attorneys listen to your story to understand your needs, concerns, and objectives, and offer tailored legal strategies to help you make informed decisions.
- For over 50 years, our firm has worked tirelessly to provide residents of Altoona and the surrounding communities with dedicated support and counsel.
- We take a team approach to our clients’ cases, leveraging each team member’s experience, legal knowledge, and insights to craft innovative solutions.
Understanding Estate Planning
The estate planning process involves creating legal documents and structures to manage one’s assets and affairs before and after death. Estate planning can help protect and grow wealth and ensure its distribution after death. Estate planning may also focus on providing legal protection and support for individuals who become incapacitated and unable to handle their affairs. Common estate planning tools include:
Wills
A will forms the cornerstone of an estate plan. No matter what other tools you might have in your estate plan, you can create a will to form a plan for managing your estate after death. In a will, you can appoint someone to serve as the executor of your estate. This person is responsible for the probate and estate administration process. You can also use your will to designate who will inherit assets from your estate. You can make bequests of specific property to loved ones or other beneficiaries or leave shares of your residuary estate to specific individuals or organizations.
Trusts
A trust is a legal structure under which an appointed individual, called a trustee, holds and manages assets placed in the trust by its creator, known as a settlor. The trustee manages trust assets in accordance with the terms of the trust document executed by the settlor, which may provide specific instructions or broad discretion in managing the trust. Individuals and families incorporate trusts into their estate plans to achieve various objectives, such as:
- Protecting assets from creditors and legal liabilities
- Facilitating third-party management of family wealth
- Bypassing probate when distributing inheritances
- Mitigating taxes
- Qualifying for means-tested government benefits
- Preserving loved ones’ inheritances from poor personal or financial decision-making
- Providing financial support for loved ones with special needs
Powers of Attorney
A power of attorney allows an individual, called a principal, to authorize another party, called an agent or attorney-in-fact, to take actions or make decisions on behalf of the principal. In estate planning, individuals may execute durable powers of attorney to authorize loved ones to manage their medical, legal, or financial affairs if they become incapacitated. Powers of attorney can help families avoid the time and expense of guardianship when they need legal authority to handle a disabled or incapacitated loved one’s affairs.
Advance Healthcare Directives
Advance healthcare directives may consist of various legal documents through which individuals can communicate their intentions, wishes, and preferences regarding medical and end-of-life care. An advance healthcare directive may consist of a healthcare power of attorney, under which an individual can appoint a trusted loved one to make medical decisions if they become physically incapable. Directives may also include a living will, a document in which a person can express their preferences for medical/end-of-life care, disposition of their remains, and funeral/burial arrangements.
Medicaid Planning
As people age, Medicaid planning can become critical to their estate plan. Long-term or nursing home care costs can become too much for families to afford, or they may spend the wealth an individual spent a lifetime building. Fortunately, government programs such as Medicaid can help cover long-term care or nursing home costs. However, such programs have strict financial eligibility requirements. Medicaid planning can help individuals or couples qualify for Medicaid or other means-tested benefits and preserve as much of their wealth as possible to pass on to their loved ones.
Beneficiary Designations
Financial accounts and life insurance policies may allow holders to make beneficiary or pay-on-death or transfer-on-death designations, which pass control of the account or ownership of the assets/benefits to a designated beneficiary. Beneficiary designations enable individuals to pass wealth in financial accounts or insurance policies to loved ones or other beneficiaries without going through the expensive and time-consuming probate process.
Do You Need an Estate Plan?
People with limited assets may question the need for an estate plan. However, everyone has assets they may wish to distribute after death. Furthermore, parents can use estate plans to look after their minor children’s interests. Estate plans can also protect your interests during your lifetime by preparing for unforeseen circumstances that leave you incapacitated or unable to manage your affairs. An experienced estate planning lawyer can explain the benefits of creating an estate plan, no matter your circumstances or stage of life.
The Importance of Reviewing and Revising Your Estate Plan
Once you’ve created an estate plan, the estate planning process does not end there. Your circumstances, needs, and preferences can change over time, requiring you to update your estate plan accordingly. The attorneys at Kreisher Marshall & Associates, LLC, stand ready to help you revise your estate plan when your preferences change or when revisions become necessary due to life events such as:
- Marriage
- Divorce
- Birth of children, grandchildren, etc.
- Acquiring substantial assets
- Significant increases in income through promotions or business success
- Death of trustees, nominated executors, or beneficiaries
- Moving to a different state
- Changes in estate or tax laws
How Our Estate Planning Attorneys Can Help You?
An experienced estate planning lawyer from Kreisher Marshall & Associates, LLC, can guide you through the estate planning process by:
- Sitting down with you to discuss your legal options and understand your needs, concerns, and objectives to provide tailored advice and solutions
- Helping you make informed decisions about which estate planning tools to utilize
- Drafting and ensuring the proper execution of your estate planning documents
- Advising you when issues arise concerning your estate plan
- Building a long-term relationship to help you review and revise your estate plan through the years
Our firm can help you and your family with estate administration and probate to implement a loved one’s estate plan after their passing.
Contact Our Firm Today to Learn About Your Options
When you need to create an estate plan in Altoona, an experienced attorney can walk you through your options and provide tailored advice based on your circumstances, needs, and goals to help you make informed decisions. Contact us online today for a confidential consultation with an estate planning lawyer to learn more about your legal options and discover our firm’s services.
