Why Are You Holding Off On An Estate Plan?
Lots of people put off building their estate plans for one reason or another. However, many people choose to wait because they do not quite understand how it works. No one can afford to let misconceptions get in the way of making a vital plan for your financial and personal future.
At Frontiero Law Office, P.C., attorney Sal Frontiero offers skilled, attentive legal services to people all over Gloucester and northern Massachusetts. With decades of experience as a lawyer, he understands how to craft an estate plan that works for you. More than that, he can explain some of the more misunderstood pieces of the estate planning process, such as:
You Don’t Need to Be Rich For An Estate Plan
Anyone with any amount of assets can write an estate plan. It manages not just your final affairs but also provides a plan for your loved ones. You build an estate plan so that the people you leave behind know how to handle what you leave behind. It takes a lot of stress off of them and allows them to move forward.
Your Will Is Not Final
It may be called “your final will and testament,” but it’s not final and you can still change it. Just because you made decisions the first time you wrote your will doesn’t mean those decisions need to stay in place. As your priorities change as you age, so should your estate plan and will.
There Is More To Your Estate Plan Than You Think
Most people know that your estate plan can protect your assets during probate. Your estate plan can provide your wishes about your assets to your heirs. However, most people don’t know that the estate plan can provide for your care while you’re incapacitated.
Get Your Answers From A Skilled Attorney
Clients turn to Sal Frontiero because his reputation for success means they can trust his answers to questions like:
How does my residence impact my Medicare eligibility?
The prospect of leaving the family home and entering a nursing home is a realistic concern for many elderly people. What’s more, many elderly people face the prospect of losing their family home, a most treasured asset, in order to qualify for the Medicaid needed to pay for their nursing home care. However, under current Medicaid law, there are situations where a person can retain their family home and still qualify for Medicaid eligibility.
For example, if the stay at the nursing home is not permanent and an individual intends to return home, their primary residence will not be a “countable asset” for the purposes of determining Medicaid eligibility. Also, if a person has long-term care insurance complying with Medicaid regulations, the home will not be a countable asset. The house will not be counted if the Medicaid applicant’s spouse still lives in the home. There are also exceptions dealing with the applicant’s children, siblings, and other dependents.·
How can you protect your health care decisions?
To most of us, decisions regarding desired medical treatment are extremely important. Yet, quite often a patient is too sick and unable to communicate these decisions when the time arises to make them. However, this problem can easily be avoided if the patient previously executed a “health care proxy.”
A health care proxy is a document authorized under Massachusetts law that allows people to spell out their treatment wishes before they get sick. It allows patients to appoint a “health care agent” to follow their wishes and make treatment decisions in the event that they become too sick to do so themselves. A health care proxy is an inexpensive yet effective way to preserve patients’ medical treatment wishes in the event that they are unable to communicate those wishes.
Why have a will?
A will offers you the luxury of having the peace of mind to know that it will be your wishes, and not the state’s or someone else’s, that are carried out when you die. For parents with young children, it is not pleasant to think that both parents can die simultaneously. However, in our dangerous world, it is responsible planning and caring for your children to realize that such an unfortunate tragedy can happen. A will gives you the opportunity to name the person or persons that you wish to act as the legal guardian of your children upon your death and allows you to state how you want your property distributed.
Today, many people also execute other instructions together with their will. For instance, many people execute Living Wills and Health Care Proxies. These documents go into effect when a person becomes physically or mentally unable to make certain health care decisions on their own. Depending on which of these documents you use, you can include instructions concerning what kind of health care treatment you wish to be used or not to be used when it is to be used, how much of it and for how long. Many people also execute burial/funeral instructions and anatomical gifts apart from their will. Also, people often include a Durable Power of Attorney in which they appoint a trusted person to make various important decisions for them if they are unable to do so themselves. Together, these documents are an effective way for you to plan for future events, both unpredictable and predictable.
Get A Free Consultation From Frontiero Law Office, P.C.
No matter who you are or what you have you deserve an estate plan that your family can rely on. Attorney Sal Frontiero wants to be the lawyer who helps you write it. Call 978-528-3778 or send an email for your free consultation.