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Estate planning is not just for “the wealthy.” Good estate planning often means more to families with modest assets, because they can afford to lose the least. Most people in the Chinese community do not give much thought to the estate planning. This is exactly why so many families are caught off-guard and unprepared when incapacity or death does strike. Don’t wait. The best time to plan your estate is now. The attorneys at Wang, Gao & Associates offer clients strategic thinking and comprehensive, innovative solutions to the estate planning, all aimed at resolving matters early, before incurring significant cost to our clients. We provide the following legal services:
- Wills
- Trusts
- Estate Planning
- Asset Protection
- Estate Litigation
You may and should be concerned about how your hard earned money and vigorously stacked assets will be distributed upon your death. Dying without a will, also known as dying “intestate” can be costly to your heirs and leaves you no say over who gets your assets. A will tells the world exactly where and how you want your assets distributed when you die.
Trusts are the other legal mechanisms that let you put conditions on how and when your assets will be distributed upon your death. Trusts can be created in different types depending on the given situations. You can name the trustees and beneficiaries of a trust. Trusts also allow you to reduce your estate and gift taxes and to distribute assets to your heirs without the cost, delay and publicity of probate court, which administers wills. Some also offer greater protection of your assets from creditors and lawsuits.
Every adult should consider estate planning sooner rather than later. A properly prepared estate plan can achieve many advantages for the party doing the planning, as well as that party’s family. The following is an inexhaustive list of the benefits of estate planning for you and your loved ones: (1) Estate planning can help protect an estate from creditors; (2) Estate planning can give you the assurances that your wishes will be honored; (3) Estate planning can give you the peace of mind knowing that your children are protected and provided for; (4) Estate planning allows your estate to pass to your beneficiaries without the unnecessary disputes and the lengthy and costly process of probate; (5) Estate planning can minimize or avoid estate taxes, income taxes and capital gains taxes so that your beneficiaries receive their inheritance to the fullest extent possible; (6) Estate planning can protect your assets from lawsuits, creditors and other claims. An estate plan may include some or all of the following: Will, Living Trust, Health Care Proxy, Life Insurance, Forms of Property Ownership (Joint Tenancy with Rights of Survivorship, Tenancy in Common, Tenancy by the Entirety, among others), Gift, Power of Attorney, Business Succession Plan, Family LLC, Family Limited Partnership, etc.
Please do not hesitate to contact us for your estate related representations. We are prepared to go the distance and fight for your best interests whether it be will challenges and will contests, whether a surviving spouse should get his or her elective share, or whether a testator was testamentarily capable to execute the legal document.
