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An estate plan allows you to provide for your family’s future upon your death. This planning process can be an overwhelming, emotional, and stressful one. 

The Romanello Law Firm can help you in the estate planning process by putting your wishes for incapacity and death into writing. We know which documents to use and can help you explore the various options available to ensure your goals are appropriately carried out. We can also educate you about the probate process should that arise.

The Romanello Law Firm also assists clients and families through the probate process after the death of a loved one. This process can often be complicated, confusing, and time consuming. Leave the process to us so that you can take the time you need to grieve.

Our firm provides clients with services such as:

• Wills
• Living wills
• Healthcare proxies
• Living trusts
• Charitable trusts 

Wills

A last will and testament, more informally called a will, is one of the most common and useful estate planning documents. A will is a legally binding document that can be used to establish your wishes regarding your assets and how you would like them to be distributed following your death.

Types of Wills &  Their Importance
We have experience with all types of wills and related matters, including:

• Living wills
• Statutory wills
• Will contests

Benefits of Establishing a Will

Putting your wishes in a legally binding document can help provide you and your loved ones with piece of mind. In addition, it offers many legal benefits. A will can be used to appoint a guardian for your children, name an executor to handle your outstanding matters, explain your funeral wishes, and direct how your finances and property should be handled and/or distributed after your death. We understand that thinking about the inevitability of death may seem morbid, overwhelming, and disconcerting, but putting your final wishes in writing is important. Advising and supporting you through that process is important to us, too.

Trusts

There are many different types of trusts to choose from and, in order to meet your needs, you must be careful in your selection. An irrevocable trust can’t be changed without the permission of the beneficiary. A revocable living trust can be created while you are alive and changed as you wish.

A few advantages of trusts include:

• Reducing gift and estate taxes
• Establishing conditions on how assets are handled
• Protecting your assets from creditors and lawsuits
• Distributing assets to intended heirs in accordance with your wishes

As you can see, establishing a trust is one effective way to ease your concerns and ensure that your loved ones will be provided for. With different trusts to choose from, working with a trust lawyer is in your best interest. When it comes to creating a trust, we can guide you through the many complicated factors and decisions in order to come up with the plan that suits you best.

Establishing Power of Attorney

Should you ever become suddenly incapacitated or disabled and unable to care for yourself or make decisions, having a power of attorney will ensure you are taken care of. Depending on what type of power of attorney you establish, the person of your choosing may be authorized to make financial choices and medical decisions for you and may even perform other tasks that you normally would. We can help you understand the advantages of establishing a power of attorney and assist you in choosing the right agent.

Once you’ve selected the type of power of attorney you want to create, selecting a responsible individual to handle your decisions is the next step. You will want to make sure that the person you choose knows how you think and how you would handle your affairs. Most people choose to select a spouse or close family member if they are in good health. However, you can ultimately appoint anyone of your choosing. Appointing a trustworthy power agent will also help you avoid the possibility of decisions being made by unnamed or undesirable parties.

You will have several factors to consider when choosing a power of attorney, including:

• How much authorization you want to give your chosen agent
• When you wish to have your agent begin their duties
• When you wish to release your agent from their duties

Living Will, Healthcare Directives, and Healthcare Proxy

Establishing a living will, health care directives, and appointing a healthcare proxy provides your designated agents with direction on your wishes in the event that you are incapacitated and unable to make your own medical decisions. The document can also help avoid litigation if there is a dispute about your care.

Advanced healthcare planning is a process for directing your medical care, treatments, and desires for your care if you are unable to effectuate your wishes on your own. You can begin this process at any point in your life regardless of your current health status. Advanced directives can be revised at any point as your circumstances change.

What is Included in a Health Care Directive or Living Will?

A Health Care Directive is a general term for any document in which you provide instructions about your end-of-life decisions. These frequently include appointing an individual to make medical decisions on your behalf if you are no longer able to do so. A Health Care Directive does not state directions on the taking of your life, but rather your desire that your life not be prolonged in the event that you are deemed terminally ill or in a persistent vegetative state.

Drafting a living will is another type of directive to state your wishes about any future care you may or may not wish to receive. You may also appoint a power of attorney to make medical decisions for you in the event that you cannot make them for yourself. This person becomes your healthcare proxy. 

The process of planning for the future can be scary and overwhelming. There are many options available to you when thinking about your end-of-life options and how you wish your estate to be handled. Let The Romanello Law Firm put your mind at ease by helping you organize your estate plan.