Estate Planning Lawyer in Morris County, NJ
Helping Families Prepare for the Future
Your estate consists of everything you own, from your car to your home to your checking account. How your estate gets passed onto your loved ones or other beneficiaries can be controlled either by you or by the state, depending on whether you take advantage of various estate planning tools.
At Edens Law Group, we can help you create an estate plan that addresses your needs and goals for the future. Our Morris County estate planning lawyers are well-versed in drafting and formalizing the legal documents needed to ensure your instructions and wishes are carried out when you pass away. We can provide the legal guidance you need to properly plan, so call our Northern New Jersey law firm for legal assistance.
What Can an Estate Plan Do?
When you think of estate plans, you might think of legal documents – such as last wills – that clarify which loved ones get your assets when you pass away. However, the right estate plan can do more than establish who will receive various aspects of your property and assets. It can also state when they will receive it.
In fact, the most popular estate planning documents can do even more, including the following:
- Designate a guardian for minor children
- Appoint someone you trust to manage your estate
- Outline plans to help family members with special needs
- Transfer business interests
- Protect assets from creditors
- Minimize estate taxes
- Provide life insurance
If you want to know which documents can assist with guardianship decisions, reduce estate taxes, transfer business ownership, and more, you should seek legal counsel. Our experienced attorneys can advise you on what to include in your estate plan, so call today.
What Are the Most Common Estate Planning Tools?
As you prepare to meet with skilled Morris estate planning attorneys, you should get an idea of the legal tools you’ll go over. Some of the most common documents include:
- Advance health care directives, known as living wills, which appoint agents to act for you and include guidelines as to the type of medical care you do or don’t want should you be unable to express your wishes
- Powers of attorney, which appoint an agent to manage your financial affairs should you be unable to do so
- Last wills and testaments, which outline who will inherit your belongings and who will care for your children
If you’re interested in learning more about these or other estate planning options, call our firm to get started on your plan with the help of a committed attorney.
What Happens If You Pass Away without an Estate Plan?
Making an estate plan gives you control over what happens to your estate when you’re no longer here to manage it. In this way, it can protect your assets and the loved ones you wish to inherit them. If you don’t have a will, trust, or other document with instructions on how to distribute your assets, the probate court will make this decision for you based on state laws.
According to New Jersey’s intestate succession laws, the surviving spouse inherits all assets in the estate if there is no will. If there is no surviving spouse, the children will inherit everything. If there are no children to inherit the estate, it will go to the decedent’s parents, siblings, or other relatives.
So, to ensure family members get the specific items you want them to have, you need a will or other documents clarifying this. Our experienced attorneys can help with this, so call today for legal guidance.
How Can Morris County Estate Planning Attorneys Assist You?
Estate planning has many benefits, and it is never too late or too early to start. By retaining an estate planning lawyer in New Jersey, you can spare your family from making difficult end-of-life decisions, reduce or eliminate tax obligations, and transfer your assets and property efficiently.
If you’re ready to get started, we’re happy to help. We can explain the details of everything from tax law to guardianship law as it relates to estate planning. Call 908-529-0353 today for a one-hour strategy session with our skilled lawyers.