The Letter of Intent as a Part of Your Special Needs Planning in Bethesda and Largo

The documentation that you create with your special needs planning lawyer in Bethesda or Largo will be quite detailed and will take an incredible amount into consideration, but it will likely not cover every possible concern or wish you may have for your child’s future care.  For that purpose, many parents work with their lawyer to create a Letter of Intent.

The Letter of Intent is along the lines of a personal letter, rather than being a more formal legal document.  It is used to supplement the special needs plan to provide additional information.

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Be Organized and Ready When Meeting With Your Trust and Estates Attorney

To better streamline the Maryland estate planning process, it can be incredibly helpful to do a bit of organizing before meeting with your attorney.

This allows you to feel confident in what you’re doing, as well as minimize the time spent on the task at hand.  Both you and your lawyer will benefit from clear, concise communication, and if anything is missing, it will be considerably easier to discover and remedy the situation up front.  A Bethesda or Largo trust and estates lawyer would advise you to consider all of these things in preparation for your meeting.

First, compile a list of your assets and liabilities.  Doing this in advance, rather than waiting to be directed by your estate planning lawyer can save a fair amount of time.  Again, if you’ve overlooked something, the attorney will likely be able to point it out, but you won’t have to go through the basics during your consultation time.  Some of the assets and liabilities you’ll want to include are:

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What Does It Mean to Contest a Will?

contest a willWhen it comes to the administration of your will in Bethesda or Largo, you likely assume that the hard work and planning you put in with your lawyer will ensure everything goes off without a hitch.  The good news is that this is precisely what happens the majority of the time.  Wills and trust administration is a big job, and the sole purpose of creating a will is to make your wishes as clear as possible to simplify the process.

When a will is “contested” that means that it is being challenged for some reason.  Fortunately, heirs can’t simply overturn your will because they’re not happy with it.  Instead, they have to show a legal reason that the will itself is invalid.  If it is found to be invalid, then the administration process changes dramatically for all involved.

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Your Trusts and Estates Attorney Can Help Plan for Your Religious Needs

When it comes to estate planning, most of us are aware of the common things we need to discuss with our attorney.  There are so many financial concerns, legal concerns, and even personal concerns regarding a person’s inheritance and other desires.

However, when it comes down to honoring our deepest religious or spiritual desires, many people overlook the necessity of incorporating such wishes into their estate.  When religion plays an important role in someone’s life, it makes sense that it would also be important in the legacy they leave behind.

Many estate planning attorneys don’t necessarily focus a lot of their expertise on the religious aspects of planning, which makes sense.  After all, there are so many religions that it would be impossible for one attorney to be well versed in them all.  However, if there are religious preferences you would like to see incorporated into your estate plan, a skilled attorney can help you legally document the wishes of your faith.

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4 Reasons You Need a Will Now, According to a Bethesda and Largo Wills and Estates Lawyer

Of course it makes sense that a wills and estates attorney would tell you to create a will, right?  Our job is to help people plan for what will happen to their estates once they’re gone.  But, having been involved in estate planning in Bethesda and Largo for such a long time, it’s clear that message of proper planning is something more people still need to hear.

That’s why I’ve put together a list of four brief reasons that explain why you need a will…and why it must be created sooner, rather than later.  There are certainly many other aspects to consider, but these can have a great impact on the future of your estate:

Reason You Need a Will #1:  It Saves Money

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Bethesda and Largo Probate Attorney Explains How To Avoid Conflicts When Passing Down a Vacation Home

Leaving a vacation home outright to your loved ones can create more family conflict and problems than you might think.

While a vacation home may have been a peaceful haven for you and your spouse throughout the years, your children may not look at the house the same way when it becomes theirs to manage and maintain.

In fact, many heirs of vacation homes are simply unable to afford the yearly property taxes and related maintenance costs.  What mom and dad meant as a blessing actually becomes a burden to the children who were not prepared to assume these new responsibilities.

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How Your Bethesda or Largo Estate Planning Attorney Can Help Protect Intergenerational Wealth Transfers

A recent article on Forbes.com took a look into the surprisingly high rate at which intergenerational wealth transfers fail.  This is undoubtedly a major issue of consideration for estate planning attorneys in Bethesda and Largo and beyond.  Our goal is for your wishes to be followed both in specific and in the spirit of your intentions.  So, if transfers are failing, it makes sense to examine why and learn how to avoid these issues in the future.

According to research done by Roy Williams and Vic Preisser, intergenerational wealth transfers fail a staggering 70% of the time! The main factor in the failures was that the families themselves did not implement any post-transition planning.  That is to say, the heirs were never prepared to take on the privileges and responsibilities of inheriting the family’s wealth.

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Maryland Estate Planning Attorney Discusses 4 Misconceptions About Wills

When it comes to estate planning in Maryland, there are many misconceptions.  Over the years, I have noticed some common themes in the way some people think about Wills. In this post, I will discuss 4 common misconceptions I regularly encounter when helping people in Bethesda and Upper Marlboro get their financial affairs in order.

Misconception #1: A Will avoids probate. No.  A Will is the primary tool of the probate system. Your Will is like a letter to the Court telling the Court how you want your property distributed.  Then you must make sure that you prove to the Court that all your property is collected and appraised, and all your bills and taxes are paid, before your property can be distributed to your heirs.

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Estate Planning Myth #2

Many people believe that estate plans are only for the wealthy and well-to-do.  This is another common estate planning myth.  More than 60% of all Americans die without an estate plan, leaving their state’s intestacy laws to determine who will inherit their property.  Intestacy laws may also determine who will act as guardian of your … Read more