Estate Planning
Jorgensen & Salberg is devoted to advising its clients on a personal level on all estate planning matters. We will work with you individually to design an estate plan that effectively and efficiently accomplishes your goals. Because your estate plan will affect the lives of the ones you love after you’re gone, creating your estate plan is one of the most important financial decisions you will ever make.
Estate planning is the legal process by which an individual arranges the transfer of assets in anticipation of death. The dual aim of an estate plan is to protect the maximum amount of assets for the intended beneficiaries while preserving flexibility for the individual prior to death. An estate consists of the total property, real and personal, owned by an individual. Wills and trusts are two common ways in which individuals dispose of their property. Trusts, unlike wills, offer the benefit of avoiding the lengthy and costly legal process of probate. Our attorneys will navigate these complex legal issues to eliminate any uncertainties concerning the administration of a probate and to maximize the value of your estate by reducing taxes and other expenses.
At Jorgensen & Salberg, we believe the most important estate planning objectives are protecting what you have earned and planning to provide for your loved ones. Our experienced attorneys will work with you on a continual basis to update your plan so that it always suits your lifestyle by offering solutions in the following areas: wills and trusts, probate administration, beneficiary designations, property ownership, gift taxes, durable and special powers of attorneys, and advance health care directives.
Helpful Estate Planning Terms
- Beneficiary – A person who receives property from the Trust.
- Estate – Everything you own; all of your assets (whether real property or personal property).
- Executor – A person who administers the property of a person who dies with a will (like a Trustee, but with regard to a Will instead of a Trust).
- Issue – Descendants that include all people in the direct line of inheritance with the decedent.
- Power of Attorney – A written document that gives an individual the authority to act for another.
- Pourover Will – A will that transfers or pours probate (estate) assets over into a pre-existing trust.
- Trustee – A person who holds title to property for the beneficiaries. During the lives of the husband and wife, they are the Trustees of the trust. When one spouse dies, the other spouse is the sole Trustee. When the remaining spouse dies, a third person (successor trustee) takes over and ensures that the property gets transferred to the beneficiaries.
- Trustor/Settlor – A person who gives property to another in trust. This is almost always the creator of the Trust as well.