SERVICES

Estate Planning Law – The planning process begins with an initial consultation to determine your desires along with your family and economic situation. A successful estate plan allows your estate to pass to whom you want, when you want and in the way you choose, and you have the opportunity to do this without sending your loved ones through the long, public process of probate. Our experience and expertise also often enables our clients to significantly reduce or eliminate estate taxes. We also strive to help you fully understand your personalized estate plan to enable you to express your wishes to your loved ones.

Wills
A will is a legal document that describes how your assets should be distributed in the event of death. The distribution of the assets is controlled by a legal process called probate. Upon death, the will becomes a public document, meaning anyone can view its terms. Once your will enters probate it is controlled by the court and probate attorneys, not your family. The probate process also allows for any interested party such as creditors to join the probate court proceedings and contest the will. These are some of the reasons you may prefer a Revocable Living Trust over a will.

Revocable Living Trust – By setting up a revocable living trust, you may avoid probate and often save money on taxes. Similar to a will, a living trust describes what happens to your property in the event of your death. While you are alive, you retain control of your property and have the power to change the trust at any time. For tax purposes, a person who creates a revocable trust has not given away the ownership of the property in the trust to anyone else. Upon death, the trust assets are distributed to the remainder beneficiaries in accordance with the trust terms.

Charitable Remainder Trust – A Charitable Remainder Trust is a trust in which the donor transfers property to the trust for the benefit of a charity and retains a right to receive annual income for a specified term. This is not only beneficial to the ultimate charitable recipient, but it allows the donor to defer the income tax consequences on the sale of capital gain property.

Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust (ILIT) – An ILIT is an irrevocable trust created for the principal purpose of owning a life insurance policy. Under the ILIT, upon the insured’s death, benefits from the policy paid to the trust will be free from inclusion in the gross estate of the insured. An additional benefit of the ILIT is that we can structure it to provide benefits to the insured's surviving spouse without inclusion in the surviving spouse's gross estate.

Credit Shelter Trust – A Credit Shelter Trust is a trust designed to allow married couples to take full advantage of their federal estate tax exemption. Although a married person may leave an unlimited amount of assets to his or her spouse, free of estate taxes, the problem occurs when the second spouse dies with an estate worth more than their exempted amount, as the excess would be subject to estate tax, and the first spouse’s estate tax credit is wasted. The Credit Shelter Trust takes care of this problem by creating a trust upon the death of the first spouse with the deceased spouse’s share of the trust’s assets. The surviving spouse is the beneficiary of this trust, with the children often being the remainder beneficiaries. The trust is funded to the extent of the first spouse’s estate tax exemption. In effect, that amount is not subject to estate tax on the death of the first spouse, and the trust is able to take full advantage of the first spouse’s estate tax credit.

Medicaid Qualifying Income Trust (Miller Trust) – A Miller Trust is used for the sole purpose of qualifying a person for Medicaid benefits. The amount of monthly income a person can have and still qualify for Medicaid is set by each state. For example, the Georgia income limitation for a Medicaid applicant in 2007 was $1,869 per month. The trust may be set up in advance but cannot be funded until Medicaid coverage begins. When coverage begins and income starts to flow in the Miller Trust, Medicaid laws restrict the type of distributions that may be made from the trust, such as for the personal needs of the patient and health insurance premiums. Income diverted to the Miller Trust is not considered for purposes of Medicaid qualification. When the patient dies, any money remaining in the Miller Trust must be remitted to Medicaid, up to the amount Medicaid expended on the patient.

Qualified Personal Residence Trust (QPRT) – A QPRT is an irrevocable trust consisting of either the donor’s personal residence or vacation home. The donor transfers title of such home to the QPRT while retaining a right to use the home for a term of years. This initial transfer is considered a gift for tax purposes, but the gift tax consequences are considerably less than the estate tax consequences would be upon the donor’s death. At the end of the QPRT term, the home will be distributed to the beneficiaries designated in the trust. The donor may continue to use the residence following the expiration of the QPRT term, so long as the donor pays fair rent for this use. For some clients, this rent is another way to transfer assets to their loved ones free of estate tax.

Special Needs Trust – A Special Needs Trust, also known as a Supplemental Needs Trust, if properly arranged, prevents a person with a disability from disqualification of public benefits, such as Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security Income, in the event the person is set to receive a sum of money through an inheritance, direct gift, personal injury settlement, or other disposition. A Special Needs Trust holds title to property for the benefit of the person who has a disability. This property held by the trust can be used to provide for the needs of the disabled person, which are not otherwise covered by government assistance programs, such as dental expenses, vision impairment, transportation, education, insurance, rehabilitation, and maintenance.

Elder Law/Medicaid Planning – A large number of people need nursing home care at the end of their lives, and that care is costly. To assist with nursing home costs, Medicaid was implemented in the 1960s as a needs-based benefit program to provide for those in need of this type of help. Since its enactment the law has substantially changed, making the legal and financial issues facing families today particularly complex. We can give you up to date information about issues concerning caring for the elderly, including Medicaid eligibility.

Probate and Estate Administration – When someone dies, either with or without a will, there are often estate issues that need to be addressed, including changing property titles and tax preparation. Probate is the process in which the court determines who gets what property. If a person dies testate (with a will), the probate court determines if that will is valid and asks for any objections. If a person dies intestate (without a will) the probate court appoints a person to oversee this process, and after all claims against the estate are settled and creditors are paid, this person distributes any remaining property in accordance with state laws. Often the point of a revocable living trust is to avoid probate altogether, saving the family time, money and avoid the potential for conflict.

Asset Protection – Asset protection is based on the basic principle that any asset owned by you, with some minor exceptions, can be reached by your creditor. The goal of asset protection is the concept of removing assets from your legal ownership, while retaining control and beneficial ownership. Over the years, numerous legal structures have been developed to split up legal title to assets from control and beneficial enjoyment. We can help you form a protective barrier around your family and business assets by applying certain legal techniques that protect your assets from future creditors.

Estate and Gift Tax – The estate tax, sometimes referred to as the “death tax,” is a tax imposed on the transfer of the entire estate of a deceased person, regardless of how it is disbursed. However, a certain amount of an individual’s estate is exempted from taxation by the federal government. The exclusion amount for the years 2007 and 2008 is $2 million. In 2009 the exclusion increases to $3.5 million for each estate, and without political reform, the estate tax will be repealed for one year–2010–and then readjust in 2011 to $1 million. Estates above the applicable exempted amount are subject to estate tax, but only for the amount above the exemption. As a general rule, if a gift is made during the donor’s lifetime (called an inter vivos gift) the gift is not subject to the estate tax. The gift tax imposed by Congress limits the donor’s ability to circumvent the estate tax by gifting during his or her lifetime. There are two available exemptions from the gift tax. First, there is an annual exclusion for transfers up to $12,000 (as of 2008) per person per year, which are not subject to the gift tax. A married couple, if both US citizens, can combine their gift exemptions to make gifts up to $24,000 per person per year without incurring gift tax liability. Second, there is a “unified credit” of $1 million that eliminates gift taxes until an individual makes gifts of more than that limit to another person. Our expertise in this area may eliminate or significantly reduce our client’s death and gift tax liability.