Estate Planning and Trusts - Conkle, Ellis, Fergus, and MacDowell

There are several occasions when one should concentrate on good estate planning: Starting a business, getting married, having children, or seeing one’s children reach majority age. In the United States, more couples now live together without being married than live together in wedlock; the so-called “defense of marriage” laws and constitutional amendments recently promulgated in a number of states have profound effects on such couples, whether same-sex or opposite-sex.
Estate planning, at a minimum, involves a simple will, but probate proceedings in which the will is the sole estate planning document are supervised, public, expensive, and time-consuming.

A better approach is generally to set up at least one trust, along with a will that upon death transfers everything to the trust. A trust is administered privately by a trustee, without step-by-step supervision by a probate court. One can be much more creative with a trust than with a will. If one has a net worth -- including the value of a home and life insurance proceeds -- of more than a million dollars, a properly drafted estate plan often can save one’s estate hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal estate taxes.
Estate planning encompasses much more than designating persons who benefit upon one’s death. It involves designating those who will handle one’s affairs and make medical decisions if one is temporarily incapacitated. It involves nominating guardians for one’s kids in the event both parents should die.
Estate planning involves measures taken during one’s lifetime that are relevant to events that occur during one’s lifetime, such as setting up trusts that have estate planning, financial planning, and tax aspects. For example, one has sufficient means, it is possible to irrevocably transfer funds to children, even if they are minors, tax free to them, and have the amount transferred excluded from one’s own income.
Our attorneys are experienced at estate planning, and we can make the process understandable as well as useful.