It is wise for everyone, irrespective of age or wealth, to complete an estate plan.
Estate planning is just another form of financial planning.
The purpose of estate planning is either to save money or to avoid unnecessary expenses. If a person consults a professional, whether that professional is an attorney or a non-attorney, the fee charged by the person assisting with the estate plan should be less than the amount of savings realized from the planning process. Estate planning is more important today than it has ever been because the average person has more assets now than in the past and people are living longer now than previously. Therefore the risks of depletion of a person s estate are more significant either from the possibility of estate taxes for those who are quite wealthy or from the possibility of high medical bills in later years, especially the possibility of extended stays in a nursing home. Our office has the capacity to properly advise people to do planning to help avoid probate, protect their estate from estate taxes, and protect their estate from the high costs of medical care in later years to the extent our state and federal laws allow this to be done.