Southeast Florida Law Firm Helps People With Estate Planning
Trusted Bay Harbor Islands attorneys help you protect your assets for your family
Estate planning is crucial to protecting your assets, providing for future medical care and transferring wealth to your loved ones and charitable interests upon your death. Careful planning can avoid deterioration of your property due to taxes, investment losses and liabilities. At the Law Office of Sulzberger & Sulzberger in Bay Harbor Islands, Florida, we have decades of experience providing compassionate, high-quality estate planning services to our clients, helping them to achieve their financial objectives with confidence and peace of mind.
Understanding legal advisors secure your family’s future with a personalized plan
The contours of your estate plan depend upon your objectives. We begin by thoroughly analyzing your estate, determining what you want to accomplish and developing an effective planning strategy. Then, we draft a comprehensive set of documents to effectively achieve your objectives, the most crucial of which is your last will and testament. A will allows you to:
- Choose a suitable executor to manage your estate
- Distribute your property to designated beneficiaries
- Set up trusts for underage children to avoid court-administered guardianships
- Support personal charitable causes
- Provide for the care of surviving pets
- Minimize the burden of taxes on your estate
Without a will, you leave your assets to Florida’s intestacy law, which may not distribute them in accord with your wishes. We can draft valid wills that ensure your intentions are honored. We can also periodically review your will to determine whether it still conforms to your needs and circumstances and, if advisable, draft codicils making appropriate changes.
Another estate planning option we can prepare is a living trust. It allows you to place assets into a trust managed by you as the trustee and direct that they be transferred to designated beneficiaries upon your death. Depending on how it is structured, a trust can provide a tax shelter and a shield against creditors. Further, assets passed through a trust are not subject to the delays and uncertainties of the probate process.
Compassionate lawyers help you control your health care when you are unable
It is important to have a set of valid instructions in place in case a stroke, coma or other debilitating health crisis leaves you without the ability to make your desires known. An advance directive – often called a living will — lets you declare what medical treatment you wish to receive or to be withheld. We know how to prepare an advance directive that accurately and effectively communicates your instructions in a way that is legally binding. We can also prepare a durable health care power of attorney that lets you select an agent to make decisions on your behalf if you become incapacitated.
Contact knowledgeable estate planning lawyers in Bay Harbor Islands
For comprehensive estate planning services throughout Florida, call the Law Office of Sulzberger & Sulzberger at (305) 865-8631 or contact us online.