Lawyers Inheritance Experts Honolulu Near Me

4worldlovers: Your estate plan will likely be one of the most important set of legal documents you create over the course of your lifetime. Your estate plan should do much more than simply determine what happens to your estate assets when you are gone. When properly drafted, your estate plan should help those assets grow over the course of your lifetime, protect you and your loved ones should incapacity strike, and provide for those loved ones after you are gone. The key to getting the most out of your estate plan is to work closely with an experienced estate planning attorney.

At Sterling & Tucker, LLP we know how important your estate plan is to you and to those you love. We also understand how difficult it can be to share confidential and often sensitive information relating to that plan with a stranger which is why our goal is to create a relationship with you that will endure for your lifetime. By doing so, we are able to ensure that your estate planning needs and wishes are honored now and throughout the course of your lifetime. FIND OUT MORE

At Sterling & Tucker, LLP we are dedicated to helping the residents of Oahu, Hilo, and Maui with all their estate planning needs. Our team of experienced and committed attorneys and staff can help you incorporate a wide variety of inter-related strategies and tools into your estate plan.

4worldlovers:

Learn about getting a Trust , Trust Amendment or Will made, or get help with your Probate today. Contact us for a complimentary, no obligation consultation (Phone & Online appointments available).

Learn About Estate Planning in Hawaii & How You Can Protect Your Loved Ones

Many people here in Hawaii ask me why it is so important to draft an estate plan. There are many reasons, but here are the 3 most important.

First, a properly drafted estate plan can prevent your family from having to go through probate.

Probate can be very expensive and very time-consuming. The process is controlled by the state.

In the State of Hawaii, if you own a home or condominium, or if you own more than $100,000 in assets, your estate will have to go through probate.

However, you can avoid probate if your property is placed into a revocable trust.

A second important reason to draft an estate plan is to save on your taxes.

Drafting a proper trust can help married couples save on estate taxes by taking advantage of the estate tax exemption for each spouse.

In addition, property left through an estate receives a basis adjustment that allows families to save on capital gains taxes.

Finally, a proper estate plan includes a power of attorney document and a health care directive.

These are extremely important. A power of attorney allows an agent to pay expenses if you're incapacitated.

A health care directive outlines your medical choices so your family members don’t have to make those choices for you.

What Happens If You Don't Have an Estate Plan in Hawaii?

If you fail to draft these documents and you become incapacitated, your family will have to go through a guardianship and conservatorship proceeding.

In other words they'll have to go to court and that's time consuming and can cost them thousands of dollars.

Not to mention the costs of emotional stress on your loved ones.

As you can see, it's very important to draft an estate plan. However, more than 60% of adults do not have an estate plan.

Their failure to plan will likely result in their family paying thousands of dollars in probate fees and taxes. You can prevent this happening by creating an estate plan now.

I often hear the same reasons for failing to draft an estate plan. Some people think they don’t need one. They think only rich people have 'estates'.

However, as we mentioned above, if you live in Hawaii and you have a house, a condominium or cumulative assets over $100,000, you have an estate that will have to be probated - unless it’s in a Trust.

Still, you may be thinking that it's too expensive to draft an estate plan. Is it?

Probate is actually much more expensive than drafting a revocable living trust. And the time it takes to probate an estate is much longer, and involves more headaches, than settling a trust.

Some assume their situation is too complicated for an estate plan. They believe it's impossible to draft a plan that will satisfy all their requirements. Not true.

Whether it's dealing with a beneficiary who has a disability or a substance abuse problem, or how your primary home should be distributed, an experienced estate planning attorney can design a plan to meet any and all of your needs.

One of the biggest mistakes I see in my practice, besides the failure to draft an estate plan, is people trying to draft a plan without the help of an experienced estate planning attorney.

I often come across clients who tried to draft their own trust through an on-line service, ending up with one that's worthless because they didn’t know how to fund it.

Or, they execute a deed by themselves that results in hundreds of thousands of dollars in unnecessary taxes!

All of these problems can be eliminated by scheduling a free consultation with Estate Planning of Honolulu.

During that free consultation, I'll ask several questions about your finances, property, and family. Then I'll answer any questions or concerns you might have.

After all of the information is gathered, I'll propose a plan that meets all of your estate planning needs. I will also quote your fee at that time.

4worldlovers:
Most often, people equate estate planning with death, but what happens if you become incapacitated or disabled? A properly drafted estate plan will allow you to designate someone you trust to manage your affairs by following your specific written instructions. On your death, an estate plan can protect inherited assets from lawsuits, divorce, creditors and other claims.

What happens if, after your death, your spouse gets remarried to someone who already has children? By planning properly, you can protect your children’s inheritance while still providing for your spouse after your death. An estate plan can help inexperienced beneficiaries do the right thing with their inheritance, such as getting a good education, purchasing a home, getting a safe car and making wise investments.

Family disputes over real estate or financial property can occur in situations where a property is inherited or purchased together with a family member, relative, spouse or ex-spouse due to a pre-existing joint ownership property arrangement. If find yourself unable to reach an agreement about a dispute, then we can help.

After our Plan Attorney completes your trust, it is critical that we help you fund the Trust. In order to complete trust funding, we require a current copy of all your financial statements at the meeting. This includes your insurance, 401(k), ira accounts, annuity’s, savings accounts, and checking accounts.

Have you ever stopped and wondered what will happen to your home and property if you pass away?

If you die without a trust in the state of Hawaii and you have assets that exceed $100,000, you would have to go through an informal or formal probate process.

Probate is the legal process in which Hawaii court proceedings determine whether the testators executed a valid will. The process is public and may bring potential challenges to the will that was created. Many clients prefer privacy over a public disposition of a clients assets. A trust will accomplish that with the disposition of assets to their intended beneficiaries. Why do we have Probate? One main reason is to prevent fraud. Fraud could occur if a person’s assets are taken from whom they are intended for. Probate could happen to anyone.

How can I Protect my Spouse and Children when I Pass Away?

Create a Trust. A trust is a legal entity in which one person or organization controls property that is given by another person for the benefit of a third party. The person that is giving the property is referred to as the grantor, the person in control of the property is referred to as the trustee, and the person that the trust benefits is referred to as the beneficiary. In some trusts, you can be named as the grantor, trustee, and the beneficiary. Keep in mind, some estates may benefit from an independent trustee who is subject to strict legal requirements when administering the trust.

The most common trust is a living trust, which takes effect while you are alive. Setting up a living trust, you transfer title of your assets you want to protect in the trust from you as an individual to the trust. Living trusts can be setup as revocable or irrevocable. A revocable trust can be amended while the grantor is alive. An irrevocable trust, generally is more difficult to modify but has its benefits.

After our Plan Attorney completes your trust, it is critical that we help you fund the Trust. If the Trust is not properly funded, all your financial assets will go through Probate (a long drawn out and expensive court process). In order to complete trust funding, we require a current copy of all your financial statements at the meeting. This includes your insurance, 401(k), ira accounts, stock accounts, annuity’s, savings accounts, and checking accounts.

After your assets are properly funded in the trust, your trust will distribute your assets free of probate. Insuring only your intended beneficiaries receive your assets and not anyone outside your bloodline.

Did you know that an estate planning revocable living trust can be amended at any time by an attorney? Each year, we experience changes in life that can alter your true intent of your estate plan. Have you purchased additional real property? Did you want to change your intended beneficiaries? Has your marital status changed? What about your successor trustee, health care agent and power of attorney?

Call for a Free Trust Review to meet with one of our plan attorneys, to review the estate plan and ensure that your estate plan was written how you intended. Please note, new laws can be amended in your trust to provide you and your family with a form of asset protection.

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