Estate Planning Attorney in Mount Laurel, NJ

Guiding Clients Through the Estate Planning Process

If you want to make sure your family is financially secure after your death, you should create a comprehensive estate plan as soon as possible. Trusts, wills, life insurance policies, and other common estate planning options can work together to provide your family members with the money they need to maintain the quality of life you want for them long term.

Hiring an experienced estate planning attorney will simplify the process of creating a solid estate plan that’s customized to meet your individual needs. If you have questions about which estate planning documents will best protect your family’s future, contact Bratton Law Group for a consultation with our Burlington County legal team.

What Are the Benefits of Estate Planning?

Creating an estate plan can benefit you and your loved ones in numerous ways, giving you peace of mind about the future. Depending on the legal options you choose to include in your plan, you’ll be fully prepared for just about anything that occurs in your life, including illness, incapacity, legal or financial issues, and death. That’s why anyone who owns property, operates a business, or has a family to provide for should make an estate plan.

The benefits of estate planning can include:

• Offering your loved ones financial protection even after your death, as they’ll get the valuable assets you want them to have.
• Avoiding family disputes over your wishes regarding how your assets are distributed.
• Reducing court involvement, as certain estate planning tools can bypass probate court and allow you – not a judge – to decide who gets your assets and cares for your minor children.
• Minimizing taxes and legal fees, leaving your estate with more money to transfer to your beneficiaries.
• Keeping you in control of financial and medical decisions that affect you, even if you’re too ill or incapacitated to communicate your preferences in the future.
• Supporting long-term care planning, ensuring you’ll have the funds to pay for a nursing home or in-home medical care.
• Protecting your business interests in case you need to transfer ownership to someone else.

If any of these estate planning benefits would give you some peace of mind when you think about your future, it’s time to discuss your legal needs with a Mount Laurel estate planning attorney. Call our firm today to learn more about how we can assist you.

What Legal Tools Should You Include in Your Estate Plan?

Most estate plans feature several legal tools that can work together to provide protection. Your attorney will review your specific legal needs before helping you decide which estate planning services are right for you. Some of the most common options include:

• A last will and testament to clarify who should inherit your assets and manage your estate.
• A durable power of attorney to allow a trusted person to handle your legal and financial decisions when you’re unable to.
• Revocable trust so you can plan for incapacity and transfer assets to your heirs without involving the probate court.
• An irrevocable trust to protect your assets, reduce your taxes, and provide for vulnerable loved ones, such as special needs children.
• A living will to clarify medical care preferences and appoint a trusted person to make healthcare choices for you.
• Beneficiary designations to seamlessly transfer certain accounts and insurance policies to the named beneficiaries.
• Guardianship designations to determine who will take care of your young children after your death.

When you hire our firm for estate planning services, we’ll make sure you understand your options and help you choose the ones that are right for you. Our team has guided aging parents, business owners, and other Mount Laurel residents through the estate planning process, and we’d be happy to do the same for you.

Should You Make a Will or a Trust?

Two of the most common estate planning tools are wills and trusts. Each option has a different purpose, which is why many people include both in their estate plan. If you’re unsure whether you need both right now, it’s helpful to learn the advantages of each.

A will is a document in which you list who you want to inherit your assets when you pass away. You can also use this document to appoint a guardian who will take care of your children and an executor to manage your estate after your death. The simplicity and affordability of making a will can be appealing, but the downside is that wills must go through the probate process before your heirs can get their assets. This can be time-consuming and costly for your family members depending on the types of assets and where those assets are located, which is why many people look for alternatives that can avoid probate, such as trusts.

A trust is an arrangement in which an institution or individual, called a trustee, holds the title to the property you wish to transfer to your loved ones. With a revocable trust, you have full control and ownership during your lifetime. With an irrevocable trust, though you no longer have legal ownership of the assets you place in a trust, you can maintain some control by writing instructions on how and when they should be transferred to the beneficiaries. Which type of trust you decide to use is really a matter of preference and base on the goals you are trying to achieve.

While trusts can be more expensive and complicated than wills, their advantages include avoiding probate, maintaining privacy, and protecting assets from certain threats. An attorney can consider your circumstances and recommend a will, a trust, or both. Call our firm today for legal advice.

Are You Ready to Hire an Estate Planning Attorney in Mount Laurel, NJ?

If you have questions about creating an estate plan, you should hire a skilled attorney with years of experience advising clients throughout Burlington County, Camden County, and the surrounding areas. At Bratton Law Group, we regularly assist clients of all ages with estate planning, elder law issues, trust administration, and other legal needs.

Call (856) 644-4283 to speak with an attorney who is eager to help protect your legacy by creating a solid estate plan. We look forward to your call.