Shoreline Estate Planning Attorney
Estate Planning Lawyers in ShorEline, WA
Shoreline, Washington, is known for its beautiful beaches, high-quality schools, and vibrant, engaged neighborhoods. Located only nine miles from downtown Seattle, Shoreline is a wonderful place to raise a family.
One of the best things you can do for your family is to sit down with an estate planning lawyer and talk about the future. Careful and strategic estate planning can help you preserve your wealth and pass it down to your loved ones the way you intend. At ELG Estate Planning, we handle Wills and Trusts, Advance Directives/Healthcare Directives (sometimes called “Living Wills”), and Power Of Attorney documents that can help you ensure your wishes are fulfilled at every stage of life.
We believe in “Empowering Futures®,” and that guides ELG Estate Planning in serving our clients. We can help you create an estate plan that will protect your wealth, provide protections for family members, distribute your assets how you want them to be distributed, and ensure that your end-of-life wishes are honored. For estate planning in Shoreline, Washington, contact ELG Estate Planning today.
Estate Planning in Shoreline, WA
An estate plan typically consists of the following:
A will naming the beneficiaries who will receive your assets
Trusts, which allow you to control and distribute assets while protecting your wealth and your beneficiaries
Powers Of Attorney, specifying who will make financial and healthcare decisions for you once you can no longer do so
Healthcare Directives, which provide your healthcare agent and your doctors with instructions about end-of-life care
Designation of guardians for any dependents, such as minor children
When you’re making an estate plan, those persons with over $3 million must consider issues such as the Washington estate tax. There are simple ways to reduce or eliminate the tax burden on your beneficiaries. Talk to your estate planning lawyer about the strategies you can use to protect your assets and pass them down intact.
Wills
The most basic estate planning document is the will, which designates the beneficiaries who will receive assets from your estate and specifies what each beneficiary will receive. Most people don’t make a Will until later in life, but anyone 18 years or above can make one. Procrastination can be a big mistake because no one knows when they will pass away. If you pass away without a Will, your estate won’t be divided according to your wishes. Instead, Washington law will decide who gets what according to a predetermined plan.
Failing to make a plan ahead of time can also be expensive for your estate because you won’t have taken the steps necessary to reduce taxes and protect your assets.
After you have passed away, the person holding your Will must deliver it to the executor, who must then deliver it to the court so your estate can go through probate. In the probate process, your executor will:
Gather and inventory your assets
Pay off your debts
Distribute any remaining assets
Trusts
A Trust is a legal entity that owns property on your behalf or on behalf of your beneficiaries. A Trust can be used to:
Minimize the tax burden on your estate
Control the distribution of your assets when you don’t want to give them directly to a beneficiary
Protect you and your beneficiaries from publicity
There are many different kinds of trusts, including:
Irrevocable Trusts: these can protect your assets and reduce taxes on your estate
Testamentary Trusts: these are created by your will and can be used to provide resources for minor children after your death
Revocable Living Trusts: these offer no creditor or tax benefits to the grantor of the Trust, but allow you to keep your assets from going through probate
Marital Trusts: these allow a married couple to use the estate tax credit exclusion of the first spouse to pass to avoid unnecessary estate taxes
Special Needs Trusts: these allow individuals to fund a Trust for their own benefit and without interfering with their eligibility for benefits
Supplemental Needs Income Trusts: these can be used to provide resources for a family member with special needs, creditor issues, lifestyle or management difficulties, or even a surviving spouse to prevent impoverishment from Long-Term Care costs
Medicaid Trusts: these allow you to preserve assets by transferring them to an Irrevocable Trust for others’ benefit, and are used to help qualify you for Long-Term Care Medicaid benefits
Powers of Attorney
A Power Of Attorney is a document authorizing a trusted person to make certain decisions for you if you become unable to make those decisions for yourself. There are different types of Power Of Attorney documents but typically the cover two areas:
A Financial Power Of Attorney, which gives your agent the authorization to manage your bills and make financial decisions for you if you become incapacitated
A Healthcare Power Of Attorney, which gives your agent the authority to make healthcare decisions on your behalf
You can specify which powers you want your agent to have. For instance, you can grant an agent the right to distribute your assets to a Trust, or you can decide not to grant that right. Even after signing a Power Of Attorney document, you still retain the right to make your own decisions about healthcare and financial matters unless you become incapacitated.
Living Wills and Advance Directive / Healthcare Directives
A Living Will or Advance Directive / Healthcare Directive is a document that lets doctors and family members know what kind of life-saving medical care you want to receive if you are near death. Your living will can specify your wishes regarding:
Procedures to prolong life
Feeding tubes and IV hydration
Ventilators
Transfusion
Dialysis
Use of CPR to resuscitate you
If you don’t want doctors to keep you alive artificially when medical care can no longer prevent your death or bring you back to consciousness, then a Living Will is the best way to make your wishes known and spare your family members any uncertainty
Other Services
There are a lot of different facets to estate planning and elder law. Other services we provide at ELG Estate Planning include:
Medicaid planning through Medicaid Asset Preservation Strategies®
Long-Term Care planning
Probate administration services
Trust administration services
Helping you establish care for your aging parents and loved ones
Talk to us about your elder law and estate planning needs. We are here to help.
Contact a Shoreline, WA, Estate Planning Firm Today
You’ve put years of hard work and careful planning into building your wealth in Shoreline, Washington. Now it’s time to safeguard that wealth for the future and make sure it’s distributed to the people you love once you pass on.
A comprehensive estate plan is the best way to prepare for whatever the future may bring. ELG Estate Planning has extensive experience creating effective estate plans for families in Shoreline and the surrounding area. We handle Wills, Trusts, Powers Of Attorney, and Advance Healthcare Directives or Living Wills. For estate planning in Shoreline, Washington, contact ELG Estate Planning today.
Our firm has three locations throughout Washington to serve your estate planning needs, but our office closest to Shoreline is in Seattle at 9725 3rd Ave. NE, Suite 600.
If you would like to speak to an estate planning lawyer serving Shoreline to discuss your estate plan, contact our office today!
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