Estate Planning in Connecticut

 

CARE FOR YOUR FAMILY

MINIMIZE THEIR BURDENS

MAXIMIZE YOUR LEGACY

 

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Customized Estate Planning For You and Your Family

Your life is unique.  Your decisions and intentions relating to your financial life and medical care are important.  If you become our client, your estate plan will be designed to carry out your personal intentions and to meet the individualized needs of your particular situation.
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Free Annual Estate Plan "Checkups" to Ensure a Proper Fit with Your Changing Life

We understand that your life will change over time, and your estate planning goals will likely change as well.  We offer free annual estate plan checkups in order to determine if the estate plan that we designed for you continues to meeting your evolving needs and intentions.

What is an Estate Plan?

An estate plan is a set of instructions that you intend to be carried out on your behalf at the time of your incapacity or death. These instructions usually pertain to your healthcare, your financial assets, and the care of your minor children.  An estate plan may provide for the care of other friends or family members who may lack the capacity to care for themselves.  It may also provide for charitable gifts and even for the care of a beloved pet.

Why You Should Have an Estate Plan:

Relieve your family’s burden of having to make numerous decisions on your behalf at the time of your incapacity or death by providing them with your plan. Your plan will provide detailed instructions to ensure that your affairs are attended to according to your intentions.

  

Maximize Your Legacy

  • Direct the distribution of your assets following your death.
  • Maximize the value of your estate that will be transferred to your heirs by reducing taxes and other expenses pertaining to the probate process.
  • Reduce or eliminate the uncertainties inherent in the probate process.
  • If you own a business, plan for the business’s future. 

 

Plan for incapacity

  • Empower a trusted friend, family member, or professional to manage your personal financial affairs on your behalf and according to your instructions.
  • Provide your doctor with the identity of a trusted friend or family member who you authorize to make healthcare decisions on your behalf during situations when you are incapable of communicating with your doctor.
  • Provide your doctor with instructions about how much or how little medical intervention you want to receive in case you become seriously ill and loose the ability to communicate with your doctor. 

Plan for your family’s care after you die

  • Plan for your children’s care and financial well-being by naming a guardian and determining how your assets should be used to support them.
  • If your spouse or parents survive you, provide for their care and well-being.

How We Can Help

Attorney Weber has ten years of experience working with families and their financial and legal matters.  In a relaxed setting, he will review your situation and provide you with a clear outline of the options available to you in order to accomplish your estate planning goals. Whether you need to set up simple wills for your family, need a trust to minimize taxes, shield assets for disabled beneficiaries, or have a fallback plan in case of incapacity, Attorney Weber will give you his undivided attention. If you think we can be of help, please give us a call. 

Testimonials

Going through a bankruptcy is an emotionally draining and frightening experience, which is why I chose George Weber to represent me. He was extremely knowledgeable, walked me through the process every step of the way (with great patience, I might add) because I called him constantly with questions I forgot to ask him the last time. Trustworthy, empathetic and responsive he brought my case to a successful close. I highly recommend him.

-Deborah Stone

  • July 17, 2015
  • Google+
Going through a bankruptcy is an emotionally draining and frightening experience, which is why I chose George Weber to represent me. He was extremely knowledgeable, walked me through the process every step of the way (with great patience, I might add) because I called him constantly with questions I forgot to ask him the last time. Trustworthy, empathetic and responsive he brought my case to a successful close. I highly recommend him.

-Deborah Stone

  • July 17, 2015
  • Google+

Going through a bankruptcy is an emotionally draining and frightening experience, which is why I chose George Weber to represent me. He was extremely knowledgeable, walked me through the process every step of the way (with great patience, I might add) because I called him constantly with questions I forgot to ask him the last time. Trustworthy, empathetic and responsive he brought my case to a successful close. I highly recommend him.

-Deborah Stone

  • July 17, 2015
  • Google+

Get a Free Estate Planning Consultation: (203) 653-5133

TOOLKIT FOR ESTATE PLANNING IN CONNECTICUT

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Will

 

A will is a legal document that states an individual's  final wishes regarding the distribution of his or her property upon death.   LEARN MORE

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Durable Power of Attorney

A durable general power of attorney allows one person (the principal or donor) to designate a trusted person (the attorney-in-fact) to make any and all financial, business and personal decisions on the principal's behalf.  A broadly worded power of attorney allows the attorney-in-fact to do anything the principal could do as if the principal were personally present. 

  LEARN MORE

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Revocable Trust

    

This trust allows a person (the grantor, donor or settlor) to transfer legal ownership of their assets during the grantor's lifetime to another person (the trustee), who will hold and manage them for the grantor's benefit or for the benefit of others whom the grantor designates.  In a Revocable Trust, the grantor retains the power to rewrite the terms or terminate the trust entirely as circumstances change.

LEARN MORE

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Irrevocable Trust

 

An Irrevocable Trust cannot be amended or terminated once established by the grantor.  It is generally used to hold life insurance policies, but it can also hold other assets.

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Your CT Healthcare Directive

Your healthcare directive allows you to provide parameters for your medical care in the event you are unable to specify what treatment you would like to receive.  Connecticut law specifies four separate areas in which you can  do so or, alternatively, allows you to provide these instructions in one consolidated healthcare document.

Appointment of a Health Care Representative

 

This document appoints a person named by you to make medical decisions for you in the event you are unable to do so.  You can also appoint a successor if the person named first is unable to act on your behalf.

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Living Will and Health Care Instructions

 

Your living will states your wishes in the event that you are terminally ill or injured and unlikely to recover.  You can specify certain types of intervention that you do not want.  This document allows your care to be delivered per your wishes even if you are unable to communicate with your doctor and caregivers.

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Document of Anatomical Gift

 

This document directs your representative upon your death to make organ donations for the purpose of transplantation or the study of medicine.

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Designation of a Conservator of the Person for My Future Incapacity

If you are unable to care for yourself in the future due to incapacity, this document appoints the person or persons whom you would like to make decisions regarding your personal care and living arrangements under these circumstances.  

LEARN MORE

Get a Free Estate Planning Consultation: (203) 653-5133

Estate Planning FAQs

What happens if I die without a Will?

Your estate will be distributed to the beneficiaries specified by state statute which may or may not be the people you want to benefit from your estate, and the Probate Court will appoint an administrator to handle your estate who may or may not be the person or institution you would have chosen.  Your Will supercedes the statute and allows you to name or exclude the persons or charities chosen by you as beneficiaries and to appoint the person(s) or institution you wish to serve as executor.

What does a Will do?

Your estate will be distributed to the beneficiaries specified by state statute which may or may not be the people you want to benefit from your estate, and the Probate Court will appoint an administrator to handle your estate who may or may not be the person or institution you would have chosen.  Your Will supercedes the statute and allows you to name or exclude the persons or charities chosen by you as beneficiaries and to appoint the person(s) or institution you wish to serve as executor.

What won't a will do?

Property in joint names, trusts, or where beneficiaries have been appointed such as in deeds, life insurance policies, retirement benefits, or “transfer on death” bank or brokerage accounts do not pass through your Will.