Estate Planning, Wills, & Trusts

Define Your Legacy

What legacy do you want to leave behind?

The estate planning process defines and upholds your legacy in accordance with your wishes. Guidant attorneys can bring you peace of mind when it comes to protecting your loved ones, affirming directives, and distributing your assets – all while minimizing taxes and avoiding probate.

We encourage our clients to engage in estate planning early on to help prevent uncertainty or confusion down the road. It’s a critical aspect of ensuring your affairs are taken care of, in the manner you desire. Further, having a comprehensive plan in place helps prepare your family for the time you pass away or if you become incapacitated.

Our attorneys have knowledge about these unique situations. We have earned a reputation as trusted advisors, especially when it comes to sensitive matters.

Guidant attorneys can help clients with:

  • Estate planning
  • Managing estate taxes
  • Drafting and implementing wills and living wills
  • Establishing and administering revocable, irrevocable and special needs trusts
  • Managing personal and business matters
  • Organizing the transfer of assets to heirs and beneficiaries
  • Preparing powers of attorney
  • Business succession planning
  • Understanding and choosing retirement plans and life insurance

We are well-versed in tax codes and estate laws, so our clients can be confident their estate plans reflect their goals, priorities, and individual circumstances, even as they change over time. We’ve helped our clients avoid contentious probate processes, save money, and outline care for multiple generations.

Everyone has an estate. Regardless of whether your assets are extensive or limited or if you have children, you need a plan to determine what will happen to your money and property after you pass away. If you don’t have a plan, your estate could be tied up in probate court for a long time. This could lead to serious arguments and even legal battles among your family members – which not only could deplete the assets in your estate, but also contribute to divisions and permanently damage relationships. Creating an estate plan is your opportunity to stop a needless crisis before it begins.

A power of attorney is a legal document that empowers another person to make decisions on your behalf if you are incapacitated due to illness, in a vegetative state or in an irreversible coma. There are two basic types of power of attorney: a general power of attorney to manage your finances, and a health care power of attorney to manage your medical decisions. You don’t need to name the same person for each.

The foundation of your estate plan, your last will and testament determines what will happen to your money and property after you pass away. You will designate a personal representative, also known as an executor, to manage your affairs and distribute your assets to your heirs. Your last will and testament can be used to establish a trust and can also appoint a guardian for surviving minor children, if any.

A trust is a financial entity that safeguards some of your assets for the benefit of particular people, known as beneficiaries. You can establish a trust during your life or upon your death with your last will and testament. A trust is managed by a trustee, a person who is entrusted with the responsibility of stewarding the trust assets in accordance with the trust documents.

A living will is a document that establishes your wishes for medical treatment if you are permanently incapacitated or in a vegetative state. If you have a health care power of attorney in addition to a living will, your living will acts as a guide for your power of attorney’s decisions.