Estate Planning Attorney Manchester, NH

What Does New Hampshire Estate Planning Include?

While nobody wants to think about death or disability, establishing an estate plan is one of the most important steps you can take to protect yourself and your loved ones. Proper estate planning not only places you in charge of your finances, but it can also spare your loved ones the expense, delay, and frustration associated with managing your affairs when you pass away or become disabled.

We handle a variety of estate planning needs, including, but not limited to:

• Providing for Incapacity
• Durable Power of Attorney
• Probate
• Providing for Minors
• Guardianship
• Death Taxes

Providing for Incapacity

If you become incapacitated, you won’t be able to manage your own financial affairs. Many are under the mistaken impression that one’s spouse or adult children can automatically take over for them if they become incapacitated. The truth is that for others to be able to manage your finances, they must petition a court to declare you legally incompetent. This process can be lengthy, costly, and stressful. Even if the court appoints the person you would have chosen, the individual may have to come back to the court every year and show how he or she is spending and investing every penny.

If you want your family to be able to immediately take over for you, you must work with an attorney to create the proper legal documents to designate a person, or persons, that you trust so they will have the authority to:

• Withdraw money from your accounts
• Pay bills
• Take distributions from your IRAs
• Sell stocks
• Refinance your home

Many people mistakenly think that a simple will can effectively protect you if you become incapacitated, but the truth is that a will does not take effect until you die.

Durable Power of Attorney

In addition to planning for the financial aspect of your affairs during incapacity, you must establish a plan for your medical care. The law allows you to appoint someone you trust - for example, a family member or close friend to make decisions on your behalf about medical treatment options if you lose the ability to decide for yourself. You can do this by using a durable power of attorney for health care, where you designate the person to make such decisions on your behalf. In addition to a power of attorney for health care, you should also have a living will, which informs others of your preferred medical treatments, such as the use of extraordinary measures, should you become permanently unconscious or terminally ill.

Avoiding Probate

If you leave your estate to your loved ones using a will, everything you own will pass through probate. The process is expensive, time-consuming, and open to the public. The probate court is in control of the process until the estate has been settled and distributed. During this process, it is not unusual for the probate courts to freeze assets for weeks or even months while trying to determine the proper disposition of the estate, making it difficult for your family to pay for living expenses.

If you are married and have children, you want to make certain that your surviving family has immediate access to cash to pay for living expenses while your estate is being settled. With proper planning, your assets can pass on to your loved ones without undergoing probate, in a manner that is quick, inexpensive, and private.

Providing for Minor Children

It is important that your estate plan address issues regarding the upbringing of your children. If your children are young, you may want to consider implementing a plan that will allow your surviving spouse to devote more attention to your children, without the burden of work obligations. You may also want to provide for special counseling and resources for your spouse, if you believe they lack the experience or ability to handle financial and legal matters. You should also discuss with your attorney the possibility of both you and your spouse dying simultaneously or within a short duration of time.

Many parents who meet with an estate planning attorney in Manchester are also concerned about how to structure inheritances so that funds are used for education, housing, and health needs rather than short-term spending. Thoughtful planning can include setting milestones for distributions, planning for potential move-away situations, and accounting for New Hampshire-specific issues such as college savings rules and local schooling costs, all while keeping enough flexibility for your children to pursue their own goals as they grow older.

A contingency plan should include a list of persons you’d like to manage your assets and name a guardian you’d like to nominate to raise your children in your absence. The person, or trustee, in charge of the finances need not be the same person as the guardian. In fact, in many situations, you may want to purposely designate different persons to maintain a system of checks and balances.

Deciding on a Guardian

You should give careful thought to your choice of guardian, ensuring that he or she shares the values you want instilled in your children. You will also want to give consideration to the age and financial condition of a potential guardian. Some guardians may lack child-rearing skills you feel are necessary. If you fail to plan, the decision as to who will manage your finances and raise your children will be left to a court of law.

When we sit down as your estate planning lawyer to discuss guardianship choices, we can help you compare different candidates, think about how they get along with other family members, and consider practical issues such as where they live in relation to your children’s schools and support system in Manchester. You can also outline your wishes in a written statement to guide the guardian, addressing matters like religious upbringing, extracurricular activities, and contact with extended family, so that a future court reviewing your plan has a clear picture of what you wanted for your children.

Another issue to consider during the planning process is whether you’d like your beneficiaries to receive your assets directly, or to have the assets placed in trust and distributed subject to conditions and circumstances such as age, need, and even incentives based on behavior and education. All too often, children receive substantial assets before they are mature enough to handle them in a prudent manner.

Planning for Death Taxes

The IRS will want to review your estate at death to ensure you don’t owe them that one final tax: the federal estate tax. Whether there will be any tax owed depends on the size of your estate and how your estate plan is structured. Many states have their own separate estate and inheritance taxes that you need to be aware of. There are many effective strategies that can be implemented to reduce or eliminate death taxes, but you must start the planning process early in order to properly implement many of these strategies.

When you work with an estate attorney on a comprehensive plan, you can review options such as lifetime gifting, use of trusts, and beneficiary designations that fit both federal law and New Hampshire’s current tax landscape. For clients with property or business interests in more than one state, it is also important to coordinate with professionals in those jurisdictions so that your overall strategy is consistent and does not create unintended tax consequences for your heirs.

Charitable Bequests – Planned Giving

Do you want to benefit a charitable organization or cause? Your estate plan can provide support for such organizations in a variety of ways, either during your lifetime or at your death. Depending on how your planned giving is set up, it may also allow you to receive a stream of income for life, earn a higher investment yield, or reduce your capital gains or estate taxes.

Many people in the Manchester area choose to support local charities, educational institutions, or religious organizations through their estate plan, and a knowledgeable estate lawyer can help you compare different tools such as charitable remainder trusts, donor-advised funds, or simple bequests in a will. By talking through your philanthropic goals and the causes that matter most to you, we can help you design a giving strategy that reflects your values while also coordinating with your needs for retirement income and long-term family support.

Divorce Planning v. Estate Planning

Protecting your assets in the event of a divorce can be a daunting task. Some couples prepare estate plan documents, thinking this will “protect” their assets and ensure that their intent as to the distribution of those assets will be clear. This is not always the case in the event of a divorce. For example, creating an irrevocable trust with your spouse for the benefit of your spouse and children may “protect” your assets in some respects, but it may not necessarily shield your assets from equitable distribution at the time of divorce.

To protect your assets in the event of a divorce, a pre-nuptial agreement is typically used. Parties sign this agreement before the marriage and set out their intent as to their respective assets upon the dissolution of the marriage. In the 2013 case of Estate of Wilber, 165 N.H. 246, 248 (2013), the New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled that post-nuptial agreements could be enforced in the State of New Hampshire. Married couples may now agree as to how their assets should be distributed at the time of divorce and have those agreements enforced by the court.

We here at Brennan Lenehan Iacopino & Hickey can assist you with your “divorce planning” needs. We understand that parties entering into a marriage do not do so with the intent of divorcing their spouse and that the protection of one’s assets in the event of a divorce can be a very sensitive subject for couples. We therefore provide the utmost concern and care for our clients in assisting them with this process.

For many couples, discussing divorce planning alongside estate planning with a trusted estate planning attorney can help align pre-nuptial or post-nuptial agreements with wills, trusts, and beneficiary designations. Taking a coordinated approach can reduce future disputes in New Hampshire courts by making your intentions clear, updating documents after major life events, and ensuring that plans for children from prior relationships, family businesses, or inheritances are clearly documented and communicated.

How Estate Planning Works in Manchester, New Hampshire

As you consider your options, it can be helpful to understand how an estate plan is actually put into place and carried out under New Hampshire law and in local courts such as Hillsborough County Probate Court in Manchester. An effective plan usually begins with a detailed conversation about your assets, family dynamics, and goals, followed by tailored documents that reflect those priorities. Once your documents are signed, it is just as important to keep them updated when you experience events such as a marriage, divorce, move, or major change in finances, so that your intentions remain clear over time.

When you work with an estate planning lawyer on the full process, you can also address practical steps that are not strictly legal documents but still make administration easier, such as organizing account information, titling property correctly, and communicating your wishes to the people you have named in your plan. That preparation can make probate or trust administration smoother for your family in Manchester and surrounding New Hampshire communities, reduce confusion during a difficult time, and help the people you trust feel confident carrying out the responsibilities you have given them.

Call Us To Get Started in Manchester

A well-crafted estate plan should provide for your loved ones in an effective and efficient manner by avoiding guardianship during your lifetime, probate at death, estate taxes, and unnecessary delays. You should consult a qualified estate planning attorney to review your family and financial situation, your goals, and explain the various options available to you. Once your estate plan is in place, you will have peace of mind knowing that you have provided for yourself and your family. Brennan Lenehan Iacopino & Hickey has a team of experienced estate planning lawyers in Manchester who are prepared to handle your estate planning needs.

The information on this website is for general information purposes only. Nothing on this site should be taken as legal advice for any individual case or situation. The receipt or viewing of this information is not intended to create an attorney-client relationship.