{"id":83,"date":"2019-05-23T21:51:36","date_gmt":"2019-05-23T21:51:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vvglawyers.com\/?page_id=83"},"modified":"2020-12-13T02:56:23","modified_gmt":"2020-12-13T02:56:23","slug":"estate-law","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/vvglawyers.com\/index.php\/estate-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Estate Law"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em><strong>Thoughtful, Genuine and Sincere <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most people are terrified to confront their own mortality,\nbut careful planning for your loved ones is necessary to avoid costly\nmistakes.&nbsp; Hiring an estate planning\nattorney is serious business.&nbsp; Failing to\nproperly prepare the relevant paperwork can lead to disastrous results,\nchanging the intent of a will or trust.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4>Estate Planning <\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Many times, people mistakenly believe that estate planning is only\nrelated to their death, and incapacity is often overlooked. As a result, most\nboilerplate estate plans fail to address and account for all the variables in\nthe real world.&nbsp; The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has specific laws that relate to what happens\nto an individual\u2019s assets and dependents when they die, and other laws that\napply to what will happen if an individual becomes incapacitated. It is vital\nto understand how these laws apply to you and your family, and to be prepared\nfor both the inevitable and the unexpected.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The title of property will dictate how it is inherited after\nyour death.&nbsp; Joint tenants with the right\nof survivorship, tenants in common, tenants by the entirety and trusts all have\ndifferent meanings and ownership.&nbsp;&nbsp; The\nmost common essential estate planning documents to have in place are a Last\nWill and Testament, an Advanced Health Care Directive, and a Power of\nAttorney.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Estate taxes, gift taxes, transfer taxes and income taxes affect\nhow your beneficiaries will inherit your property. If you die before you\nhave an opportunity to create the estate planning documents, your estate will\nbe probated according to Pennsylvania\u2019s Intestacy laws.&nbsp; As a result, all property commonly subject to\nyour Will would be distributed by a set of rules established by Pennsylvania,\nand could result in your beneficiaries incurring unnecessary fees and taxes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4>Trusts<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Trusts are tools to manage property.&nbsp; If it is used to manage property during your\nlifetime it is called a living or inter vivos trust.&nbsp; If it is used to manage property after your\ndeath it is called a testamentary trust.&nbsp;\nTrusts are governed by state law, and in the Commonwealth of\nPennsylvania they are governed by the Uniform Trust Code.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Establishing a trust is rather straightforward.&nbsp;&nbsp; When a Grantor (the owner of the property)\ntransfers ownership of property to a trustee for the benefit of a beneficiary,\na trust is created.&nbsp; The trustee is\nresponsible for administering the trust according to the Grantors wishes.&nbsp; The beneficiary typically receives the\nproperty outside of probate, which is the process of distributing a decedent\u2019s\nassets in court. The probate process\ncan be lengthy, costly and also expose a family&#8217;s private financial matters by\nmaking them a matter of public record. A properly established trust can ensure\nassets go to their intended beneficiaries in a timely, private and\ncost-effective matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4>Power of Attorneys \u2013 medical and financial<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>A Power of Attorney (POA) is a legal document that gives one\nperson, referred to as the \u201cagent,\u201d the authority to act for another person,\nthe \u201cprincipal.\u201d&nbsp; A POA can be general of\nspecific.&nbsp; General POA\u2019s allow an agent\nto act on your behalf in all matters and are traditionally useful in situations\ninvolving incapacitation.&nbsp; Specific POA\u2019s\nare related to specific instances.&nbsp; If\nyou want to sell a car, but have moved out of state, you can specify an agent\nto sign the documents on your behalf.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A Medical Power of Attorney is a specific type of POA,\ngenerally referred to as an Advanced Health Care directive.&nbsp; It is a form that elects someone else to make\nmedical decisions regarding your care in the event that you are unable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4>Estate Administration<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Estate administration at its simplest is the process of\ncollecting the assets of an estate, paying any debts and taxes, and paying the\nremainder to the heirs of the estate.&nbsp;\nThe initial task is arranging for the probate of a will or with a grant\nof letters of administration.&nbsp; These\ndocuments create the authority in an executor or administrator to probate an\nestate.&nbsp; Shortly thereafter the\nexecutor\/administrator, through their attorney, advertises the estate, notifies\nbanks, employers, insurance companies, stockbrokers and others of the death and\nidentifies assets and debts.&nbsp; The\nexecutor\u2019s or administrator\u2019s attorney then prepares and files the Inheritance\nTax return within nine months of the date of the decedent\u2019s death, unless an\nextension is granted. Once the inheritance tax return is accepted, either a\nfamily settlement agreement is prepared, or a final accounting is prepared\nfiled with the county Orphans\u2019 Court.&nbsp; The\nprocess is neither quick, nor is it simple.&nbsp;\nAn effective, compassionate advocate can make sense of the difficult\nroad during a most difficult time.&nbsp; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thoughtful, Genuine and Sincere Most people are terrified to confront their own mortality, but careful planning for your loved ones is necessary to avoid costly mistakes.&nbsp; Hiring an estate planning attorney is serious business.&nbsp; Failing to properly prepare the relevant paperwork can lead to disastrous results, changing the intent of a will or trust.&nbsp; Estate [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vvglawyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/83"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vvglawyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vvglawyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vvglawyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vvglawyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/vvglawyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/83\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91,"href":"https:\/\/vvglawyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/83\/revisions\/91"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vvglawyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}