|
|
Wills and Estate Planning
For most people, the ability to make personal choices about important elements of one's life is a top priority. Properly executed estate planning documents will allow you to make those personal choices about important issues such as who manages your assets if you can't, and what happens to your assets after you have died.
If you die without a properly executed Will, your probate assets will pass according to what is referred to as the “intestate law” of the state in which you resided at the time of your death. That may or may not be what your choice would have been.
For example, Connecticut's intestate law provides that the probate estate of a Connecticut resident who dies without a Will and is survived by a spouse and children is distributed as follows: the first $100,000.00 is distributed to the spouse; the balance is distributed ½ to the spouse, and ½ to the children. Is that what you want?
Having a properly executed Will allows you to direct what happens to your probate estate after you have died.
If you become incapacitated without having executed a Durable Power of Attorney Instrument, and Health Care Instructions, in most instances neither financial nor health care decisions can be made for you unless someone is appointed as your conservator by the Probate Court. Is that what you want?
Having a properly executed Durable Power of Attorney Instrument allows you to choose who will make financial and health care decisions for you if you become incapacitated. The person you have designated can act on your behalf without having to go through the Probate Court to do so.
Having properly executed Health Care Instructions allows you to determine whether you want to be kept alive by a mechanical device if you are in a persistent vegetative state, and, as well, to name the person who is authorized to convey your wishes to the health care providers caring for you.
What You Can Expect From Us >
Areas of Practice
|
|
 |
