Estate Planning Services in Bluffton, Hilton Head Island, and Beaufort
Bluffton Estate planning services provided by our firm can help you create a lasting legacy for your loved ones’ future. Montgomery Law Firm, LLC can help you craft a quality estate plan that takes into account your needs and wishes. Our services can help you plan for your future and protect your estate. During your life, you work hard to build your legacy, so why not protect it?
There is no cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all estate plan that is right for everyone. Each situation is different, so your plan should suit your needs.
You may not know how to proceed in every situation so you can reach out to our attorney for assistance. When you establish a plan, we gain an understanding of your situation and offer you the appropriate recommendations.
Living Trusts in Bluffton, SC
The ideal estate plan centerpiece for the widest range of people is a revocable living trust. As the name indicates, if you ever want to dissolve the trust, you can. This allows you to take back direct personal possession of the property at any time.
You can gain many advantages if you choose a living trust. One of them is the avoidance of probate. This is an expensive and time-consuming legal process that takes place under the supervision of a court.
During probate, your heirs are unable to receive any inheritances you wish to share. In addition, anyone interested in your affairs can see your property and assets. Because the probate process is public, those records are readily available for anyone to view. This loss of privacy can be disconcerting and is apt to cause hard feelings among those close to you.
With a living trust, the trustee that you name in the document would have the ability to transfer assets to the beneficiaries outside of probate. The estate of administration process would be streamlined, and this is another major advantage.
Plus, you could name a disability trustee to manage the trust in the event of your incapacity. You can also include spendthrift protections if you have concerns about the money management capabilities of a loved one.
Personalized Planning Solutions
There is an ideal estate planning solution that can be put in place to address many circumstances. In many cases, special needs planning is the answer.
Many people with disabilities rely on Medicaid as a source of health insurance. To help make ends meet, they receive Supplemental Security Income. These are need-based government benefits, so a person cannot qualify if they are in possession of significant resources.
If you are eligible and receive benefits, the government can revoke them under a specific circumstance. If a benefit recipient comes into money for any reason, this can affect your benefits. Keeping this in mind, what can you do to provide for family with special needs who rely on these programs? These situations can be handled effectively through the utilization of supplemental needs trusts.
To implement this strategy, you would fund the trust and name a trustee to act as the administrator. Under program rules, the trustee would be permitted to use assets in the trust to make the beneficiary more comfortable in many ways. As long as everything is done correctly, benefit eligibility would not be negatively impacted.
This is just one of numerous different scenarios that are somewhat out of the ordinary. Regardless of the situation, we can recommend the ideal course of action.
Bluffton Estate Planning Services: Incapacity Planning
People often think of estate planning as a process that revolves around the events that will take place after you are gone. This is certainly at the core of the matter, but you should also address eventualities that you may face toward the end of your life. This includes planning to avoid a living probate, conservatorship, or guardianship proceeding.
An incapacity plan will include documents called advance directives for health care, and one of them is a living will. With this type of will, you state your preferences with regard to the use of life-sustaining measures like resuscitation, mechanical respiration, feeding tubes, and artificial hydration.
A durable power of attorney for health care can be added to name someone to make medical decisions on your behalf if it ever becomes necessary. These would be decisions that are not related to the utilization of life support.
Another document that should be added is a durable power of attorney for property. Even if you have a trust with a disability trustee, this document would allow the agent of your choosing to manage property that is not in the trust.
For more information on the many tools used in the estate planning process, read our blog post, Estate Planning Solutions: There Are Many Tools in the Toolkit.
Bluffton Estate Planning Services from Montgomery Law Firm
Now is the time for action if you are going through life without an estate plan. You can schedule a consultation by sending us a message. You can also reach us by phone by calling (843) 815-8580.
Our Estate Planning Lawyer is located in Bluffton, SC near Hilton Head Island, proudly serving clients from Pritchardville, Okatie, Brighton Beach, Windmill Harbor, and all of Beaufort County.
