Estate Planning
Plan What Matters Most.
A complete estate plan should center on a revocable or "living" trust. (We call it a life trust.) Your wishes are spelled out. Your plan should also include powers of attorney, a healthcare proxy, and other health care documents to provide for things that your trustee can't handle.
Estate planning counsel for individuals and families throughout Holliston and the MetroWest area.
The Right Time to Plan Is Before You Need the Plan.
A thoughtful estate plan can help you make important decisions before they become urgent. It can provide direction for your family, establish how your assets should be handled, and prepare for situations involving incapacity, changing family circumstances and the future.
At Deland Law Office, Jennifer A. Deland works with individuals and families throughout Holliston and the MetroWest area to build an estate plan around their circumstances, priorities and the people they want to protect.
Estate Planning Benefits
A Plan Built Around What Matters Most to You
No two families are alike. We take the time to understand your circumstances, your priorities, and the people you want to protect.
Protect Your Family
Thoughtful planning can help provide direction for the people who matter most and clarify how your wishes should be carried out.
Make Your Wishes Clear
A well-considered plan can reduce uncertainty by putting important decisions and instructions into appropriate legal documents.
Plan for Incapacity
Estate planning is also about what happens during your lifetime. Powers of attorney and healthcare documents can help prepare for situations where you cannot make decisions yourself.
Prepare for Change
Marriage, divorce, children, grandchildren, changing assets, retirement, and other major life events can create reasons to review an estate plan.
Create a Lasting Legacy
Your plan can reflect not only what you own, but also the people, causes, and priorities you want to support.
Comprehensive Estate Planning
A Will Is Important. But It Is Only One Part of the Plan.
A will is an important estate planning document, but it does not necessarily address every issue involved in a complete estate plan. Depending on your circumstances, trusts, beneficiary designations, powers of attorney, healthcare documents, and ownership arrangements may also need to be considered.
Probate & Estate Administration
Learn more about what happens when an estate moves through the probate process and how planning ahead can shape that experience.
Note: The right combination of documents depends on your circumstances. Professional advice should be tailored to your specific situation.
Sometimes the Right Plan Goes Beyond a Will
Revocable Living Trusts
A revocable living trust may provide a framework for managing assets during your lifetime and distributing them after death.
Irrevocable Trusts
Certain irrevocable trusts may be appropriate for specific planning goals depending on the circumstances.
Special Needs Trusts
Special needs trust planning can help address the financial and support needs of a beneficiary with a disability while considering applicable rules and benefits.
Spendthrift Trusts
These trusts can include provisions intended to protect trust assets from certain beneficiary-related risks, depending on the circumstances.
Planning for Different Family and Financial Circumstances.
Depending on your goals, other types of trusts may be worth considering.
Trusts for Minors
Can help manage assets held for a child until an appropriate age.
IRA Trusts
May help direct how retirement account assets are handled for beneficiaries.
Gift Trusts
Can support planning around lifetime gifts to family members.
QTIP Trusts
May provide for a surviving spouse while directing remaining assets afterward.
QPRT
A qualified personal residence trust is used in certain residence planning.
Charitable Trusts
Can help reflect charitable intentions as part of your overall plan.
Marital Trusts
May be used to provide for a spouse depending on your goals.
Generation-Skipping Trusts
Can address planning across multiple generations.
Pet Trusts
Can help provide for the care of a pet.
Your Estate Plan Should Work While You Are Living, Too
Power of Attorney
Can authorize a trusted person to handle financial and legal matters on your behalf.
Healthcare Proxy
Can identify who may make healthcare decisions for you when you are unable to.
HIPAA Authorization
Can allow designated people to access your medical information when appropriate.
Living Will / Advance Directive
Can communicate your wishes regarding certain medical treatment decisions.
Guardianship & Conservatorship
Guidance for situations where a court-appointed decision-maker may become necessary.
Business Succession
Can coordinate your personal estate plan with the future of a business you own.
Family & Legacy
Your Plan Should Reflect the People You Care About.
An estate plan can address the needs of children, including minor children, and consider vulnerable family members who may require additional planning. It can also provide for a spouse or partner, a pet, and the people you care about most.
Beyond family, your plan can reflect charitable intentions and priorities for future generations, allowing it to represent not only what you own, but what you value.
An Estate Plan Should Evolve With Your Life
Family Changes
Marriage, divorce, or the birth or adoption of a child can be reasons to revisit your plan.
Loss & Transition
A death in the family or retirement can shift what your plan needs to address.
Financial Changes
Significant changes in assets or in a business you own may call for a review.
Life Transitions
Moving or other changes in family circumstances can affect an existing plan.
Your Life Changes. Your Plan Should Have Room to Change With It.
As your family, assets, and priorities evolve, your estate plan can be reviewed and updated to continue reflecting your circumstances and wishes.
Legal Guidance Without the Legal Jargon
Listen
Understand your family, priorities, assets, and concerns.
Explain
Translate complex planning concepts into language you can understand.
Plan
Build an approach that reflects your circumstances and goals.
Ready to Support Your Family
Office Visit or Online via Zoom
Standard $400 Consultation Fee
How Deland Law Office Can Assist
Elder Law
Guidance on long-term care and asset protection as you age.
Wills
Establishing how your assets should be distributed and who should carry out your wishes.
Planning for Children
Guardianship nominations and trusts for the next generation.
Start Planning What Matters Most.
Whether you are starting an estate plan for the first time or revisiting one that no longer reflects your life, the conversation can begin with understanding your goals.
Deland Law Office
1660 Washington Street
Holliston, MA 01746