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Estates and Guardianships

Thinking about what happens to your family and how you provide for them after your death or injury is a difficult process. However, the difficult decisions you make now will save your family from making these same difficult decisions later, usually when they are struggling to cope with your injury, incapacity or death.

Most of us carry multiple forms of insurance to protect themselves from a possible devastating loss: we have car insurance with high personal injury limits, disability insurance, homeowner’s insurance, and insurance that covers the replacement value of expensive property. Yet many of us have failed to plan for a certain, rather than a possible, devastating loss: what happens to our family after we die? Many of us do not have even a simple Will to direct how our hard-earned property goes after death and, in the case of higher net worth individuals, to save hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes. Most of us do not have Powers of Attorney to allow our family to act in our place in the event we are incapacitated. Our family instead will have to attend a public guardianship hearing and possibly incur thousands of dollars in attorneys’ fees and administration costs. Even our closest family members have no idea what kind of medical care and treatment we would want if we are terminally ill or in a coma, whether we want to donate organs, or what funeral arrangements should be made. These exact decisions will be made by our family at a time when they are dealing with an emotionally difficult situation – an especially terrible burden when they are unsure what our wishes are.

We will work with you throughout the process of estate planning to give you greater peace of mind and confidence in knowing your loved ones are protected. The documents you will receive will be crafted to your situation and will provide you with the greatest flexibility, security, and clarity.

For more information, please visit Frequently Asked Questions and the other links below.