Huntersville Trusts and Estates Lawyer Builds Genuine Relationships with Clients
Experienced North Carolina attorney handles estate and trust law
Families and individuals seeking to pass assets to the next generation or protect assets from potential creditors are often wondering where to begin. Lake Norman Wealth Counsel in Huntersville handles these matters with the utmost professionalism and confidentiality, always working to build real relationships with clients. We have nearly a decade of experience in trust and estate law.
Access to all the tools to build your estate plan
There is no cookie-cutter approach to estate planning, wealth planning or planning for incapacity and no substitute for face-to-face interaction with an experienced lawyer who can help you:
- Create or modify a will
- Plan for estate and gift taxes
- Transfer wealth to your family’s next generation
- Create powers of attorney (financial and health care) and advance health care directives (living wills)
- Create HIPAA compliant medical authorization(s)
- Handle all other aspects of estate planning
We’ll take the time to understand your goals and develop plans that give you peace of mind about the future.
Practical guidance on trust creation
Trusts are effective tools to transfer assets to people and organizations of your choice upon death. They offer several benefits, including keeping assets out of the costly probate process. Establishing a trust can be complicated. Lake Norman Wealth Counsel can help you form any type of trust, including special needs trusts, revocable and irrevocable trusts, life insurance trusts, charitable trusts, QTIP trusts, and family trusts/credit shelter trusts.
Living trusts give you flexibility
Living trusts allow you to place assets in the care of a trustee for the benefit of children and other persons and entities. You may serve as the trustee during your lifetime, and, upon your death, a successor trustee takes over with instructions either to continue the trust or distribute the assets to the beneficiaries. Benefits of a living trust include:
- Structuring dispositions of property in a way that achieves more favorable tax treatment
- Avoiding probate
- Potentially saving money due to staying out of the probate process
- The likelihood of it holding up if someone contests the distribution of assets
- Having the estate distributed in private, since living trusts are not public records
Our firm can advise you on whether establishing a living trust would be financially beneficial for you.
Handling guardianship issues
Sometimes it becomes necessary for a designated guardian to take care of a person, their property, or both. Powers of attorney and advance medical directives allow our clients to choose their own caretakers in these events. If your loved one doesn’t have these documents in place and is now incapacitated, you’ll need to go to court to have a guardian appointed. We can provide guidance in these situations.
KNOWLEDGEABLE ESTATE LAWYER HELPS CREATE HIPAA COMPLIANT MEDICAL AUTHORIZATIONS
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a U.S. law that protects the privacy of patients’ medical records or other protected health information, whether electronic, written or oral. This law gives you rights over your health information and sets rules and limitations on who can look at and receive your protected health information.
A vital part of your estate plan is to provide permission to access your protected health information to those trusted powers of attorneys (medical and financial) and trustees so they can continue to act on your behalf during your incapacity. Without the compliant authorization, they may have to petition a court to gain access to those vital records.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN WILLS, TRUSTS AND DYING WITHOUT AN ESTATE PLAN/WILL
Please read some additional information on the differences between having a Will, a Trust based Estate Plan or having no Plan at all:
Wills, Trusts and Dying Intestate: How they Differ
Wills vs. Trusts: A Quick & Simple Reference Guide
What happens if you die without a Will?
Do It Now: Name a Guardian for Your Minor Child(ren)
Get a free estate planning consultation from a North Carolina law firm
Lake Norman Wealth Counsel in Huntersville, North Carolina handles trust and estate needs. Schedule a free consultation by calling 704-727-2026 or contact us online.