The AR Group

FAMILY ESTATE PLANNING

Anyone preparing to get married, start a family, or purchase a first home will benefit from the protections provided through development of an estate plan. Similarly, those contemplating or experiencing divorce, or perhaps celebrating a second marriage and creating a blended family, should evaluate or re-evaluate long-term life planning objectives. These major life events have a significant effect on not just family structure, but finances, assets, and legacy objectives. Transitioning through some of these changes can be daunting, but our attorneys will customize an estate plan to ensure your intentions are clearly stated and your planning goals achieved.

• Recently Married
  As a recently married couple starting your lives together, estate planning may not be on your mind, but the reality is that a union through marriage has legal implications for inheritance and property ownership and requires informed decisions to be made about combining finances, holding title to real estate and naming beneficiaries. Estate planning plays both a critical and practical role for couples beginning to establish the foundation upon which their futures will be built. If you don?t think you can afford an advanced estate plan now, start with what you can afford. Even a basic plan is better than having no plan at all. For a young family with a modest estate, this may mean a will, term life insurance, and powers of attorney for managing your assets and making health care decisions. As your needs and financial situation change, so too should your planning.

• New/Single Parents

  With all the excitement of being a parent, it is sometimes easy to overlook the importance of having proper estate planning documents in place. However, with that joy comes responsibility, including the need to ensure that your child is properly taken care of in case of a catastrophic event. All parents should have long term and short term guardians in place as well as a plan for the care of their children under a variety of scenarios including the disability/incapacity or death of one or both parents. Understanding of the options available to protect assets intended to be used for minors is another important component of estate planning for parents. Additionally, parents birthday, when the child becomes a legal adult.

• Blended Families

  As the divorce rate continues to increase, so do the number of second marriages. The needs of blended families often present unique estate planning issues and objectives. If you are in a blended family, you want to make sure assets are distributed equitably and according to your intentions. Counseling about the various methods available to balance providing for a second spouse while still leaving an inheritance for children from a previous marriage considerations blended families must address in their estate plans.

We can help you to identify your assets, outline your objectives, and construct a plan that will provide you and your loved ones peace of mind knowing you have tended to your family?s needs.