ESTATE PLANNING
Mr. Taforo provides counsel, advice and representation concerning Estate Plans. His Estate Plan package includes revocable living trusts, wills, powers of attorney, and advance health care directives. His Estate Plans include easy methods for organizing you estate and directions for your executors and heirs on how to conclude your estate without going through probate or needing an attorney.
Mr. Taforo's philosophy regarding estate planning is to provide all necessary assistance to complete an estate plan design to protect you and your assets. With constant changes in the law, especially in the tax and estate planning areas, it is very difficult for attorneys to be proficient in numerous areas of law. To address this concern and still be able to offer estate planning services, Mr. Taforo have joined a national group of estate planning specialists and invested in a comprehensive estate planning program that is updated frequently. Mr. Taforo's aim is to analyze individual needs and goals and outline, design and implement plans which meet your goals in the most beneficial and cost-effective way with the least possible paperwork and bureaucracy.
In order to enable clients to balance the cost of a revocable living trust versus the cost of probate or conservatorship/guardianship proceedings, Mr. Taforo offera package prices on living trusts. That way, you know what cost is involved before you decide to have work completed.
Packages include the following when applicable:
Revocable Living Trusts
A Revocable Living Trust eliminates probate and the need for guardianship proceedings in regard to all assets transferred into the trust.
Asset Transfer Letters
These are letters which provide all necessary information to your bank, stockbroker, insurance agent or other institutions where assets are located. These letters enable you to get assets transferred into your trust by simply filling in the blanks with pertinent information, delivering letters to appropriate institutions, and signing any forms required by them. I analyze proper titling and beneficiary designations on assets and insert instructions appropriate for your plan into the letters.
Pourover Wills
Pourover Wills ensure that all property is transferred to the chosen beneficiaries, even if an asset is not transferred to the trust during lifetime.
Durable Power of Attorney
Durable power(s) of attorney allow a spouse or anyone else of your choice to sign documents and handle affairs for you. This document is particularly helpful if mental or physical disability prevents a person from managing his/her own affairs.
Advance Health Care Directives
Advance Health Care Directives give directions to physicians and family members regarding continuation of life support systems in the event of severe illness.
Community Property Agreements
When applicable, a community property agreement which classifies all property as community, in order to ensure complete forgiveness of capital gains tax upon the death of one spouse. Community property agreements which classify some assets as individual property will be subject to additional fees.
We also provide a three-ring binder which contains all necessary documents and directions regarding procedures to follow if someone becomes incompetent or if there is a death. Various other informational documents are also provided, along with forms which can be completed regarding where assets are located, wishes for memorial services and any other information which you consider to be pertinent. In determining whether the benefit warrants the cost, it is important to balance the cost of estate planning versus the cost if no planning is done. Potential costs of probate, guardianship proceedings, tax and other expenses which can be minimized or eliminated through estate planning should be weighed against the cost of estate planning. Each individual estate plan is unique and must be designed specifically for you. Paying for an estate plan without personally meeting with an attorney is like having surgery without the doctor in the room. Results can be disastrous, and non-attorneys have no insurance, which covers errors made in the practice of law. Documents are worthless if they don’t fit your needs.
