Southbury Estate Planning Lawyer

Southbury Estate Planning Attorney

Many people find it difficult to think about death, but when it comes to your family’s financial future, estate planning is an essential concern. A skilled Southbury estate planning lawyer at Burns Thomas, LLC, can help you make difficult decisions. We excel at complex estate planning and can help you secure your loved one’s future. You should know about estate planning for large and blended families to better understand the process and ensure every loved one is protected.

Experienced Estate Planning Counsel in Southbury, CT

The team at Burns Thomas, LLC, provides client-focused legal counsel for estate planning in Southbury. We help clients make informed decisions about the various elements of estate planning. If you have a general idea of your financial goals, we can help you refine them and ensure your estate plan is legally enforceable.

Many people do not expect the many variables that go into creating an effective estate plan. While many “free” tools and software programs claim to enable you to create your own estate plan, the reality is you need an experienced lawyer’s help if you want to ensure optimal results.

We take time to listen to our client, learn as much as we can about their concerns and goals, and carefully review all elements of their personal finances to develop their estate plan. You can rely on us to provide several valuable legal functions when it comes to planning your estate in Southbury:

• We can help you develop a plan that protects your family if you pass away suddenly. A properly constructed plan can eliminate uncertainty in what will be a very difficult time for your family.
• Our team can help you avoid tax penalties with your estate, ensuring your family inherits as much as possible without facing complex tax obligations.
• We can arrange for appraisal of certain assets, ensuring all elements of your estate are accurately valued. This can help reduce the chance for disputes to arise among your beneficiaries.
• We can help you arrange power of attorney and other legal measures to ensure someone you trust can make legally binding decisions on your behalf if you are incapacitated.
• If you have specific needs and beliefs regarding medical care, we’ll help you create instructions to ensure medical treatment providers adhere to your wishes.
• Our team can help your beneficiaries avoid a lengthy and expensive probate process. Without an estate plan, probate is a tedious process that requires distribution of assets following strict guidelines that do not take the decedent’s personal wishes and family dynamics into account. An experienced asset protection lawyer can help ensure your estate is safeguarded and distributed according to your wishes while minimizing legal complications.
• If you have a family member with special needs, we can ensure robust legal protection within your estate plan that helps safeguard their future.
• We will explain any state statutes that apply directly to elements of your estate plan to ensure the fullest legal protection possible for your loved ones.
• If you already have an estate plan, you can trust us to review and modify it as your life changes.

We understand that every one of our clients will have unique needs and concerns. We take time to get to know you and learn as much as we can about your concerns to create a fully optimized and individualized estate plan.

Benefits of Estate Planning

The main goal of estate planning is to help your family have an easier time managing the legal aftermath of your death. Whenever someone dies without an estate plan, their estate will enter the probate process. This is notoriously tedious, and the court makes these decisions without taking family dynamics or the deceased’s wishes into account.

Probate disputes can be very difficult to resolve. Surviving beneficiaries may disagree about how the estate should be distributed, what the deceased would have wanted, and how to handle the estate’s outstanding debts. Additionally, resolving estate administration through probate incurs tax penalties that can potentially diminish the value of the estate significantly.

Burns Thomas, LLC, helps clients understand the advantages of estate planning, creating plans that provide peace of mind and financial security while safeguarding wealth as much as possible. When you meet with our team during an initial consultation, we will review your needs, goals, and expectations and explain your options for creating your estate plan.

Whether the best option for you is a comprehensive will, the establishment of trusts or other estate planning solutions, we will find a solution that fits your needs.

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Understanding Your Options for Estate Planning in Southbury

It’s possible to configure your estate plan in various ways. While there are essential elements that all estate plans should include, it is possible to customize your estate plan in a way that suits your goals and your family’s needs.

Burns Thomas, LLC, will carefully explain all of your options in detail. There are potential risks and possible benefits to all types of estate plan configurations. When you look at these options by yourself, constructing the right estate plan can seem like an impossible challenge. With our help, you can make more informed decisions about your options:

• Trusts can be customized in many ways and can eliminate many tax penalties when it comes to your estate. Revocable trusts can be modified in the future but provide less robust tax protection while irrevocable trusts are stronger shields against tax penalties but cannot be changed.
• Power of attorney gives a trusted loved one the ability to make important decisions on your behalf if you become unable to do so for any reason.
• An Advanced Medical Care Directive can convey your wishes for medical treatment in emergency situations. This will dictate what measures your healthcare provider is able to take when you are unable to convey your preferences directly.
• Your will can provide directions when it comes to distributing your assets to your beneficiaries. A Southbury estate planning lawyer can help you construct a will that clearly conveys your intentions to your family, reducing the chance for disputes to arise.

It’s possible for an estate plan to be built in many ways. It is also possible for it to need changes over time. Ultimately, estate planning requires careful consideration, and the right attorney can make constructing your estate plan much easier.

Find Your Southbury Estate Planning Lawyer Today

An experienced probate attorney is familiar with Connecticut estate planning laws and can provide invaluable and reliable legal assistance. An attorney can prove especially helpful when:

• You need dependable probate litigation advice and counseling.
• The terms of a specific will are unclear.
• Part (or the entirety) of an estate is set to pass to a minor child under the age of 18.
• The person who died left assets, money, or property in a trust.
• If you need to discuss the tax implications of a proposed estate plan or the impact an inheritance could potentially have on your taxes.

A lawyer can provide trustworthy legal help in a variety of situations. When dealing with an already stressful death, it’s helpful to have an experienced Waterbury estate planning attorney familiar with probate court by your side to protect your interests.

Find Your Southbury Estate Planning Lawyer Today

The attorneys at Burns Thomas, LLC, strive to help our clients make informed and confident decisions about estate planning. It is never too early to start developing your plan, so contact us today and schedule a consultation with an experienced Southbury estate planning lawyer.