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– 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
The Manchester estate planning lawyers of Brennan Lenehan Iacopino & Hickey can help you start planning for the future. Contact us today at (603) 734-5461 to get started.
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 in order 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 each and every penny.
If you want your family to be able to immediately take over for you, it’s essential that you 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 in the event that 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, it’s critical that you 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.
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.
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.
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 higher investment yield, or reduce your capital gains or estate taxes.
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.
In order to protect your assets in the event of a divorce, a pre-nuptial agreement is typically used. Parties sign this agreement prior to 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 & Hickeycan 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.
Call (603) 734-5461 To Get Started
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.
Contact us today at (603) 734-5461 and schedule your consultation!
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.