Estate Planning
Morgantown, WV estate planning attorney dedicated to helping create a comprehensive estate plan that meets your goals.
Estate Planning Services
A Comprehensive Approach to Estate Planning
What are your goals?
This is the question that I ask every estate planning client. Sometimes they have a clear picture, sometimes they aren’t quite sure. Either way - they know they need a plan, and that is where Ardent Legal’s comprehensive approach to estate planning comes in. So, whether it is making sure your loved ones are provided for after your death, naming guardians for your minor children, creating a trust, setting up a supplemental needs trust for a loved one, making donations to charity, or donating your body for research, creating a well-drafted estate plan is essential to ensuring that your goals are met.
Wills
A Last Will and Testament (or otherwise known as a “Will”), is a legal document that does a number of things - mainly, it leaves instructions for others that tells them how you want your property distributed after your death, but it can do much more than that provided it is tailored to what you want. A Will also names a person (or persons) to carry out your wishes and distribute your estate after you pass, can name guardians and conservators for your minor children (i.e., people who will be legally responsible for the care of your children in the event of your passing), and can establish a Trust for the financial provision of your spouse and/or children in the event of your passing. Thinking about creating a Will can be tough - particularly if you are young and in good health; however, it is important to establish a Will while you are in good health so that your family or loved ones know exactly what you want prior to that event happening. Ardent Legal can help you develop a Will that is tailored to your unique needs.
General Durable Power of Attorney
A General Durable Power of Attorney is a legal document that names a person (or persons) to handle your finances and affairs in the event you are unable to do so yourself. It also specifies the aspects of your finances and affairs that the person can and cannot handle. A General Durable Power of Attorney can take place immediately or at some event in the future (such as your incapacity), and it is called a “durable” power of attorney because it stays in effect when you are unable to make financial decisions or carry out financial affairs on your own. Ardent Legal can help you craft a general durable power of attorney that meets your needs and can help you to understand the importance of creating this document when you are still capable of doing so.
Medical Power of Attorney
A Medical Power of Attorney names a person (or persons) called an “agent” to make medical decisions for you in the event you are unable to do so yourself through sickness or other incapacity. By naming an agent yourself, you have control over who is making decisions for you in the event that you are unable to do so, and you are saving your family members, loved ones, and medical providers who are caring for you from having to make that determination for you. Ardent Legal can help you draft a document that names the individual that you trust to make medical decisions for you.
Living Will
A Living Will is another legal document that specifies to your doctors, family members, and loved ones the type of medical treatment and intervention that you want (and do not want) in the event that you are terminally ill, permanently unconscious, or otherwise unable to communicate your wishes to others. A Living Will can be as specific as you want it to be, and Ardent Legal can help you explore and discuss your options.
Supplemental Needs Trust
In short, a supplemental needs trust (“SNT”) allows for funds to be used for the benefit of a disabled individual while protecting their eligibility for Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income (“SSI”).
Revocable Trust
Also known as an “inter vivos trust” or a “living trust” a revocable trust can be a powerful estate planning tool. It can help to avoid probate among other valuable features.
Irrevocable Trust
An irrevocable trust can be created as part of a will (a testamentary trust) or as part of Medicaid planning for long-term care.
Thinking about estate planning is tough - it makes us confront our own mortality and make tough decisions that are hard to think about when we are young and healthy. However, creating these documents can save your family members, loved ones, and medical providers from making tough decisions that you may not want them to make. Ardent Legal is comfortable with the uncomfortable conversations that surround these types of decisions, and is proud to provide these services as individual documents or part of a comprehensive estate plan to individuals and families in Monongalia County and surrounding counties.
Morgantown, WV estate planning attorney, Brianna W. McCardle, has helped individuals and couples of all ages tailor estate plans that meet their unique needs. Learn more about Brianna.
If you are in need of an estate plan, don’t wait until it’s too late. Contact Ardent Legal for a free consultation to determine the estate planning services that may be right for you.