We develop comprehensive plans that incorporate the legal, financial, and health care needs of our clients.
We help families create a comprehensive plan tailored to their particular financial, legal, health, and care needs. Our plans address the many pitfalls and unknowns of aging. Most people are not even aware of what they should be planning for or what their plan should include. We guide our clients through what could be a complex process by using simple to understand explanations and superior drafting strategies. We minimize expensive taxes, protect and preserve assets, help prevent family disputes, and give our clients peace of mind and confidence that their plan can be executed when the time is right. For clients concerned about extremely expensive long term care costs, we even have plans that include the protection of hard-earned assets to maximize benefits to stay at home or pay for facility care. Our clients will never run out of resources to pay for their skilled care. Our clients and their families will always have a back-up plan for unexpected events. Our clients get to control the legacy they will leave for their loved ones.
Plan before you need it to maximize your options and financial security
If you want to protect yourself and your family from life’s unexpected events and have the security of knowing your finances are safe, even if you need expensive care towards the end of your life, we’ve got the plan for you. Planning in advance offers you the most options to preserve and protect your hard-earned resources. Planners who engage in long term care planning at least 5 years prior to a critical illness may save hundreds of thousands of dollars in care costs over just a few years.
70% of those over 65 will need long term care. The average 65 year old receives long-term care services for approximately three years. At a monthly cost of $10,000/month, that’s $360,000 in after-tax dollars in just 3 years! -Source
Medicaid pays 54% of the over $400 billion spent on long term care services and support in the U.S. More families ends up utilizing Medicaid, but only those who plan ahead can avoid spending almost all of their money first. -Source
Most estate planning falls short, and here’s why:
They are just legal documents. There is no corresponding plan. If you don’t know how your legal documents are supposed to work and how they will protect you, you likely don’t have the most important part: your plan.
The majority of plans don’t include true asset protection. If you haven’t learned about the various options for protecting your assets, but instead you just got a “Testamentary Will” or a “Revocable Trust”, you likely haven’t considered an option that could preserve hundreds of thousands of dollars!
If you do have a plan and know how it will work, there’s a good chance it’s not properly funded. A funded plan means that all of your assets (real estate, bank accounts, vehicles, brokerage accounts, life insurance, etc.) are titled in your trust or have the correct beneficiary designation. When you sign your estate plan, you should have a detailed instruction sheet on what to do with your assets so that your plan actually works!
All of our planning clients receive:
A thorough review of options for planning and asset protection and how it affects your particular circumstances.
A detailed asset titling instruction sheet that you can use to ensure everything is done right.
One year of support included. If you have questions after you sign, acquire new assets, want to change something in your documents, we’ve got you covered, at NO additional charge.
CLICK HERE to get more information or schedule a consultation.
Common Questions about Planning Ahead
What is the difference between a will and a trust? What do I need?
Whether you have no will or have a super-complex will, any asset you have at your death that passes through your will has to be probated through the Probate Court. The Probate process varies by county, but generally takes about a year, allows anyone who says you owed them money to make a creditor claim against your assets, and takes your private financial and family information and makes it public record. A trust, on the other hand, is a private way to pass your assets to your loved ones without interference by the government in how that happens. You get to choose who makes distributions, how they make those distributions, and it can all be done privately, while minimizing costs and potential litigation.
What is the cost for a will?
One thing we always explain is the critical need for a comprehensive estate plan. A will is only used after you pass away. It does you no good while you are living. A comprehensive plan that combines health care directives, a HIPAA for health care access, a robust financial power of attorney, beneficiary designations, a “just in case” will, and some form of a trust will normally achieve your estate planning objectives while minimizing costs. Our comprehensive estate plans start at $3,000 for one person and $3,500 for a couple. If you decide to utilize a revocable trust to avoid probate as part of your plan, we can provide this additional planning. Our asset protection trusts can be added to an estate plan to preserve and protect assets if long term care is needed in the future. Asset protection trust planning starts at $7,500. These are just starting points and the exact prices will be quoted at your consultation.
Are there cheaper options?
Of course there are cheaper options. Our philosophy is that you get what you pay for and plan for. We all know this to be true. If you are driving in a rain storm and the car just ahead of you slams on the brakes, it’s too late to go and get better tires. It works the same way with estate planning and asset protection. By the time you really need these documents and this plan, it is too late to get the better option. By putting your plan together now, you can ensure that mistakes, poor drafting, improper witnessing, lack of funding, missed assets, and financial exposure can be avoided.
This is overwhelming. Is there an easier option?
If you want to plan ahead and you know it’s what’s best for you and your family, but you just can’t seem to get everything together, we can help. We offer a simplified planning solution that does not require you to do quite so much, but still achieves your goal. Click HERE for our simplified option! I want info on a simplied planning option.