Brooklyn Estate Planning Attorneys Safeguard Your Family’s Future
New York estate lawyers protects your lifestyle and legacy
Many people avoid planning for their own death because they do not want to face the inevitable. Nonetheless, it is necessary and important to secure your wealth for retirement and to arrange for a smooth transfer of assets to your intended beneficiaries. A Brooklyn estate planning attorney at Goldberg Sager & Associates can assess your needs and design a comprehensive plan for management and distribution of your assets, including inheritances for your spouse, children, grandchildren, favorite charity and others.
Importance of estate planning
Only through careful planning can you ensure that your assets will be distributed according to your wishes. For most people, this means preparing a will and/or trust to transfer personal property and real property to family members or charities in ways that minimize delay, expense and legal entanglements for the recipients.
Based in Brooklyn, New York, attorney Marcel A. Sager has spent more than 25 years helping people craft estate plans to minimize taxes and enable executors and the bereaved to avoid lengthy probate proceedings and will contests. Mr. Sager is happy to discuss the steps involved in proper estate planning, ways to avoid having the Surrogate’s Court decide how to distribute your estate and ways to prevent disputes or litigation among surviving family members or beneficiaries.
Our attorneys and experienced staff can help you with your estate planning issues, including:
- Preparation of wills
- Preparation of revocable and irrevocable trusts
- Preparation of living wills, health care proxies and powers of attorney
- Probate and estate administration
- Surrogate’s Court litigation
- Elder law, including long-term care
- Loss of a loved one who died intestate (without a will)
We also provide representation in proceedings to establish guardianships for incapacitated or developmentally disabled individuals.
Drafting a will
You should have a last will and testament, which allows you to transfer wealth and make other provisions for the benefit of loved ones and charities. Our attorneys have extensive experience drafting wills by using precise, unambiguous language that ensures an accurate interpretation of the testator’s wishes. We help you execute your will in full compliance with New York law, so the document can survive contests to its authenticity and validity.
Forming trusts to hold and transfer wealth
Because a will is not the most efficient and cost-effective way to transfer wealth, and does not provide asset protection during one’s lifetime, we often recommend that our clients establish one or more trusts. Depending on your circumstances and those of your intended beneficiaries, we can explore a variety of revocable and irrevocable trusts. These are flexible instruments, so we can craft provisions that meet your needs and serve your purposes now and in the future.
Helping clients establish powers of attorney
It’s an inescapable fact that our physical and mental capacities decline with age. As a safeguard, you can appoint an agent to manage your affairs and act for your health and welfare. A power of attorney can vest the agent with this authority immediately or can cause the authority to “spring” forth if and when you become incapacitated. A power of attorney agent can make sure your bills are paid on time, watch over your investments and/or make medical decisions when you are unable to do so.
Prepare a healthcare directive to guide your caregivers
An advance healthcare directive such as a living will tells doctors what medical treatments you wish to be provided or withheld if you are in a medical emergency or if you go into a persistent vegetative state.
Designate beneficiaries for legacy documents
Many financial accounts and documents of ownership allow you to designate a beneficiary to whom the asset is payable on death. These include 401(k)s, IRAs, insurance policies, property deeds and bank and brokerage accounts. This designation causes these assets to avoid probate and to go to the beneficiaries automatically without delay.
Preparing an estate plan
Prior to your first meeting with an estate planning attorney, there are a few things you can do to get ready:
- Create an inventory of your assets and debt.
- Assess your family’s present and future economic needs.
- Contemplate your directives.
- Review your beneficiaries.
- Assemble other documents, such as retirement savings and life insurance policies.
This basic preparation can make your first meeting with an estate planning attorney more productive. You’ll also find that our multilingual staff and knowledgeable attorneys create a welcoming environment, where you can relax and feel confident that we’re focused on your concerns. We take pride in offering cost-effective solutions and comprehensive guidance on all aspects of your estate plan.
