Maryland Estate Planning Attorney
Estate Planning Attorney & Probate Administration
While most of us would prefer to avoid thinking about our inevitable death, advanced estate planning can save your loved ones’ time, money, and confusion. Estate planning involves both planning for management of your assets during your life and for passing your property on to your children or other heirs after your passing, with as few taxes and costs as possible. With thoughtful estate planning, you can take care of yourself and your loved ones in a way that will benefit them for decades to come.
Powers of Attorney
Having the right powers of attorney in place can help ensure your family has the authority to act on your behalf in the event you are unable to do so for yourself. Powers of attorney give someone of your choosing the authority to act in a manner that you specify; powers are limited by what is specified in these legal documents. Learn more.
Wills
The core document of estate planning is the will. If you die without a will (“intestate”), state law determines who will receive your property by default. You can alter the state’s default plan to suit your own personal preference by executing your own will. Your will controls the distribution of your “probate estate” but not your “non-probate estate” (assets that are jointly titled with another person, or assets with a named beneficiary such as insurance policies, retirement plans, bank and brokerage accounts). Learn more.
Trust Preparation
When your probate estate assets are minimal, a “simple will” may be sufficient to ensure your personal probate assets are distributed as per your wishes. When you have a business or a substantial amount of personal wealth, a complex will utilizing trusts may be more suitable. I will take the time to understand your current financial situation, discuss how you see your financial outlook over the next five years and work with you to determine whether a complex will or trust is appropriate for you. Learn more.
Probate Administration
Losing a loved one is one of life’s great challenges. Often, one barely has time to come to terms with a loss before being overwhelmed by the pressures of taking care of an estate including paying bills, gathering and distributing assets, handling family disagreements, filing forms, etc. I aim to guide clients through the probate process and remove its pressures. Learn more.
Guardianships
Guardianship is a last resort when loved ones become incapable of caring for themselves or making proper decisions about health, living arrangements, and finances. Through proper planning, most clients can avoid guardianship. Guardianship is the court appointment of one person to make health care and/or financial decisions for another person. It takes away the legal rights of the person for whom a guardian has been appointed. Learn more.
QDRO
If you are going through, or recently have gone through a divorce involving the division of a qualified retirement plan (whether a government provided pension plan or a private pension plan, or whether the plan provides a defined retirement benefit or a defined retirement contribution), you should consult an attorney that understands retirement plans and the process to accomplish the division of a pension benefit. Learn more.
Estate Administration
Being appointed as a Personal Representative or a Trustee can come as a shock. Most individuals discuss their wishes with the person they intend to appoint to administer their estate or trust. However, this may not always be the case. Even if you knew you were chosen by a family member or friend to serve as a Trustee or Personal Representative, you might still feel overwhelmed as you begin the process of opening an estate or managing a trust. Learn more.
