Why everyone needs Estate Planning?
Do you have children? You need a plan.
Do you own real estate? You need a plan.
Do you own a business? You need a plan.
Do you want a say in who takes care of you if you
become incapacitated? You need a plan.
Do you care about your family and what they will
be going through when you die? You need a plan.
Estate Planning is designing and implementing a plan
for the management and transfer of an individual’s
estate during lifetime, upon incapacity, and on death.
Our strategy sessions include advice on the income, gift, generation-skipping and death tax considerations directed to achieve tax savings. Additionally, we counsel our clients on the use of powers of attorney, living wills, revocable and irrevocable trusts, and court guardianship proceedings.
Estate Planning also integrates both the family and business concerns of our clients into the estate planning process through the preparation of family partnership and limited liability company agreements, shareholder buy-sell agreements, and marital agreements. We help clients understand and accomplish what is necessary for keeping the business in the family, despite the death or disability of family members who are active in the business. We develop and implement various kinds of agreements and compensation arrangements for business owners, including agreements for the economic participation of family members who are not active in the business.
The Simple Plan: This is to ensure that your wishes are followed during your lifetime when you cannot speak for yourself and after your death.
Last Will & Testament
Revocable Trust and/or a Florida Land Trust
Health Care Surrogate Designation
Living Will
HIPAA Waiver
Durable Power of Attorney
PreNeed Guardian Declaration
Final Instructions
The Sophisticated Plan: This is about ensuring that the assets you have worked hard to acquire continue to benefit your heirs after your death.
Last Will & Testament
Revocable Trust
Certificate of Trust
Health Care Surrogate Designation
Living Will
HIPAA Waiver
Durable Power of Attorney
PreNeed Guardian Declaration
Final Instructions
Plus these options:
Grantor Retained Annuity Trust
You can transfer an investment property to a trust for a set number of years. The trust pays you an annuity each year. At the end of the term, any property left in the trust passes to your family free of gift or estate tax.
Family Partnership or Limited Liability Company
Family LLC's or partnerships can be created with a wide variety of assets. In effect, you create a family business that allows younger generations to participate in the management of the family wealth.
Buy/Sell Agreements
A buy/sell agreement should be in place for every family business. These agreements restrict transfers of interest in the business. The agreement establishes a mechanism for owners, or the business itself., to buy out the share of a deceased owner.
Charitable Remainder Trust
With these trusts, instead of leaving money to charities in your Will, you transfer property to the trust and the trust pays you a fixed percentage of the trust each year for the rest of your life. This allows you to claim an income tax charitable deduction during your lifetime for assets that will pass to a charity at your death. The trust can also liquidate appreciated stock without capital-gain tax.
Life Insurance Trust
This is an irrevocable, non-amendable trust which is both the owner and the beneficiary of one or more life insurance policies. Upon the death of the insured, the Trustee invests the insurance proceeds for one or more beneficiaries. If the trust owns insurance on the life of a married person, the non-insured spouse and children are often the beneficiaries of the trust. If the trust owns "second to die" insurance which only pays when both spouses are deceased, the only beneficiaries of the trust are the children.
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Do you charge by the hour or use a flat fee?Estate plans are usually offered on a flat fee basis.
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Is this time consuming?The process usually takes three meetings. Meeting #1 - Intake Meeting. During this meeting, Elan will review your family structure and your estate planning goals. Elan will ask you questions to determine how you want your assets to be divided depending upon certain fact patterns. After this meeting, Elan will draft your documents. Meeting #2 - Review Session. You will have received your drafts electronically or via mail (whichever you prefer). Elan will go over each document with you to make sure the information is correct and to ensure that you understand the purpose of each document. Meeting #3 - Signing Session. You will come to our office to sign the documents before two witnesses and a notary. (It usually only takes 15 minutes to sign all of the documents.) After the signing is complete, we will scan your signed documents into our document management program. We will organize your original documents in a binder. We will contact you when your binder is ready. All in all, the process can take as little as two weeks, but the answer really depends upon the speed in which you review and approve your drafts and how soon you are available to sign the documents after that.
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Wouldn't it be cheaper to download forms from the internet?Sure, but you'll get what you pay for and in many cases the forms you find on the internet are outdated and insufficient.
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I just relocated to Florida from another state. Should I have my estate plan reviewed by a Florida lawyer?Yes! Even if you had a lawyer draw up your plans recently, you should still make sure your documents will be respected by Florida law. In many cases, the only things you will need to have redone are your Will and your Power of Attorney. Trusts are respected in all 50 states. However, it may be beneficial to change the situs of your trust to Florida. That would only require a simple amendment to your trust.
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Will I meet with an attorney or your staff?You will always meet with an attorney and not with staff. If you are seeking estate planning, business planning or tax law advice, you will meet wtih Elan Kaney. If you are seeking litigation counsel, you will meet with Lester Kaney.