Estate Planning

Ensure a Bright Future

As you and your family prepare for what is to come, you need a reliable, informed and compassionate law firm by your side. You need Prescott Civil Law. We will carefully listen to your concerns and provide you with individualized strategies designed to meet your specific goals.

We help you define and clarify your estate planning goals, determine the exact value of your estate, advise you about making a will or a living trust and help you coordinate your life insurance, retirement accounts, and other kinds of estate planning assets with the rest of your plan. We consult with accountants, tax planners, and other financial experts as needed in providing innovative estate planning strategies for our clients.

Why You Need An Estate Plan

If you pass away without a will and/or estate plan, the state will determine what happens to your property. So as long as you are okay with state law controlling how your assets will be distributed, you don’t need an estate plan in place. However, if you are like most people and prefer to have control over your own property, we at Prescott Civil Law can assist you. Indeed, we can help you with a wide range of estate planning tools and methods, including:

Estate planning will allow you to:

• Have your assets dispersed according to your wishes
• Protect your beneficiaries
• Have your finances and long-term care properly managed if you become incompetent and can’t manage your own affairs
• Reduce the potential for disputes regarding your estate
• Reduce the amount of federal and state estate taxes your estate may owe after your death
  

How We Help

Our Estate Planning and Succession team work closely with you and your other professional advisors to design your estate planning strategy and draft practical legal documentation for the smooth transition of your personal assets, as well as entities in which you may accumulate wealth, including companies, family trusts and superannuation.

Wills: A well-crafted last will and testament can accomplish a lot, including outlining how your property will be distributed upon your passing and dictating who will be guardians of your minor children. Wills are a great fit for young parents and older folks with modest estates.

Trusts: Depending on your situation, there may be many financial advantages to establishing trust. However, given the many different types of trusts available, you should speak with one of our lawyers to determine which type may best serve your purpose, including legal, investment or tax-planning purposes.

Powers of attorney: A power of attorney is a legal instrument that gives another person the legal rights to make certain decisions for you. The authority granted by a power of attorney can be very narrow or quite broad, depending on your needs. If the goal is to name someone who will make your decisions should you be incapacitated, a durable power of attorney should be used to deal with both medical and money matters.‍

Health care documents/advance directives: An advance directive is a legal instrument that outlines the type of medical care you would want to receive should you lose the ability to communicate and/or make your own decisions. This document can also indicate situations in which you would not like doctors to prolong your life, such as instances of a coma with no reasonable chance of recovery.‍

Long-term care planning: If you think you may need long-term care in a nursing home or other assisted living facility, it is best to prepare years in advance, especially if you think you will need Medicaid to help cover expenses. Special trusts and gifting strategies should be explored sooner than later so you don’t risk going broke in a nursing home.

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