Trusts, Wills, & Estates

A proper and solid estate plan is needed for anyone that wants to control the disposition of their assets, not only at the end of their life, but also during their life. The biggest reasons for creating an estate plan are to determine who gets what, and when they get it, avoidance of probate, and, one of the more important ones, to minimize the amount of estate and gift taxes that are assessed. This law office will do its best to make sure your estate does not pay one penny more than it has to in estate and gift taxes; afterall, it doesn’t make sense that dying is a taxable event!

Alpina Legal can provide many important documents that will create a solid estate plan to protect and dispose of, in a manner you want, your assets. These types of documents include wills (including pour-over wills), living wills/health care directives, powers of attorney, revocable and irrevocable trusts (including spendthrift trusts), credit shelter trusts, Qualified Terminable Interest Property (QTIP) trusts, Qualified Personal Residence Trusts (QPRT), survivor’s trusts, irrevocable life insurance trusts, and the list can go on.

Additionally, there are other estate planning strategies that Alpina Legal can advise on, including Educational Savings (529) plans, setting up family limited partnerships and family LLCs, and retirement plans (401k, IRA, etc.).

Lastly, having a sophisticated estate plan can be quite complex. Not everyone needs everything discussed above in their estate plan, but regardless of the nature of your estate plan, it may require many things, such as:

• separate tax ids for the irrevocable trusts
• creating separate entities
• separate bank accounts for each trust
• filing separate/multiple tax returns
• making strategic and timely inter vivos gifts
• separate bookkeeping/complexity

As such, if and when you are ready to start or amend your estate plan, even if it is as simple as a will, make sure you obtain legal advice to confirm you can get what you want.

If you have a legal matter that needs attention in this area of the law, take advantage of a consultation regarding your estate and how you can develop a solid estate plan.

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