Cumberland County Elder Law Attorney

No one likes to think about their death, but a little bit of advanced planning can go a long way towards helping your family handle that tragedy when the time comes. If you have experienced the death of a loved one, you probably know how many legal challenges come along with the grief. By working with a Cumberland County elder law attorney, you can make it easier on your family.

We will get to know you, your family, and your unique situation. We will help create a toolkit that you can use to prepare in the best way possible.

Services We Offer

Some of the most common concerns facing our clients are wills. You might think you don’t need a will if you have a small estate. However, almost everyone needs to plan for what will happen to their assets. Help reduce fights among your heirs by creating a clear plan for after you pass.

Near the end of your life, there is a good chance you will require nursing care, either in-home or in a facility. This care can be incredibly expensive. By working with one of our expert Cumberland county elder law attorneys, you can create a plan to protect your assets and make you eligible for government assistance.

It isn’t easy to consider that there may come a time when you cannot make decisions for yourself. Still, many older adults eventually find themselves needing to rely on care. Now is a good time to consider whom you trust to provide that care. It could be a friend, one of your children, or a professional. We’ll help you find the best solution for your situation.

Now is the Time to Plan Ahead

Death is challenging in the best of situations. A lack of planning can make it impossible. You can give your children and heirs the greatest gift possible by meeting with a Cumberland county elder law attorney now. Making a plan for your long-term care and your estate will ensure that your heirs can focus on what is most important – celebrating their time with you and grieving their loss.

The best time to plan for your later years is while you are young and healthy. Making a plan will ensure that your family, doctors, and attorneys follow your wishes when you can no longer make them known. After meeting with an elder law attorney, you will be confident that your long-term planning is in good hands so that you can enjoy your golden years without stress.

When you work with us, you work with somebody who truly cares. We take great pride in providing this vital service to you and your family and understand that it can be both legally complicated and emotionally challenging to consider what will happen once you are no longer alive. When you work with us, you can be confident that you are working with the best. Give us a call today to get started.

Cumberland County Estate Administration Attorney

Being asked to serve as the executor of an estate is both an honor and a responsibility. It means someone thought highly enough of you to trust you to fulfill their final wishes. However, it also means that you are responsible for handling a significant legal and financial transaction, usually without training.

Most people only serve as an administrator a few times in their life – often at a time that is already incredibly challenging – while they are grieving someone they love. Dealing with complicated legal and financial matters is challenging, and estate administration is not the best of times.

That’s why we offer Cumberland County estate administration attorney services. When you work with us, you can be confident that every I will be dotted and every T will be crossed. We will help you navigate this complicated system so you can settle the estate with minimal hassle, especially if the will winds up in probate.

While settling an estate, you may need to pay bills, close accounts, pay taxes, and distribute any remaining assets according to the wishes of the deceased – or in another fair manner if they did not leave a will. You may need the help of an accountant and an appraiser to ensure that you value everything correctly and pay the necessary taxes. When you work with an estate administration attorney, we can connect you with highly recommended professionals in all the areas you need help. We can also connect you with social workers and other mental health professionals to get the emotional support you need during your grief.

What is Probate?

A will enters probate to ensure that it is authentic. Not every will needs to go through probate, and we can help you determine which category your situation lands in. However, if you need to go through probate, we will walk you through this intimidating process.

The process includes going to court and having an official sign-off on the will as official. This may require looking at the signature and notary, or it could be a more complicated process. We will help you gather the evidence necessary to ensure your will is legitimate.

How We Can Help

Depending on your unique needs, we can provide a range of services. We can provide you with a step-by-step plan to handle the will yourself and be available to answer questions along the way. Or, we can take on the entire process from start to finish so that you can trust it is being handled correctly without having to add any of the tasks to your already busy life.

If you have a complicated situation, such as planned giving, a trust, a dispute, or a vast estate, it is essential to get an estate administration attorney on your team early. Reach out to us today so that we can get to know your situation and understand how we can serve you.

Cumberland County Estate Litigation Attorney

When you are grieving a significant loss, the last thing you want to deal with is going to court. However, a dispute between surviving family members can often become a legal battle. In that situation, you want to be sure that you have an expert on your side to help you receive everything you are entitled to.

We have helped many families through estate litigation in Cumberland County and understand how stressful and emotional this time can be. We will ensure you have all the information you need to navigate a dispute successfully.

Why Hire An Estate Litigation Attorney?

Determining how assets are divided can be highly emotional, especially when the deceased did not leave a will or trust. They may have made competing promises, or there might be a particularly sentimental piece of property that the heirs cannot agree on how to handle. Whatever your situation is, we can help you with this dispute.

An invalid will can also cause a significant problem for families. A will could be invalid if the deceased was under undue influence or incapacitated while writing it, such as when someone has Alzheimer’s. An invalid will is just as bad as no will, as it is not a legal document. A will needs to be signed, verified, and notarized to be valid – notes drawn up by the deceased are not considered a valid will. However, their heirs could certainly choose to honor them.

If you are the executor of an estate, working with an estate litigation attorney can be a helpful way to make sure that the process goes smoothly. If the trustworthiness of the executor comes into question, that problem can snowball into litigation. We often help our clients navigate these disputes outside of court, helping everyone reach an agreement.

How Our Cumberland County Estate Litigation Attorneys Can Help

Our experienced team of estate litigation attorneys can help you determine the deceased’s wishes, understand your legal responsibilities, and divide the assets fairly. We can help with a wide range of needs, such as interpreting complex wills or dealing with wills when other things have changed (such as when one of the designated heirs is no longer alive). We can help you navigate inheritance taxes, value assets, and repay any lingering debts. We can also help ensure that you receive exactly what you should, especially when dealing with an unfit executor.

You can rely on us to make the process as smooth as possible, and we look forward to getting to know you and helping you to navigate this challenging time. Contact us today if you need an estate litigation attorney in Cumberland county.

Cumberland County Estate Planning Attorney

There is a common saying that only two things in life are certain: death and taxes. Estate planning involves both, which is why it is a service that can benefit everyone. Estate planning is the process of determining what will happen when you die. The most common time for people to begin estate planning is when they get married or have a child – when they reach the point in life where other people start to depend on them.

Why is Estate Planning Important?

If you do not have a plan for your estate, your wishes may not be carried out if you die unexpectedly. The lack of an estate plan can make it much more likely that your heirs will enter into a dispute – which is the last thing you want to leave behind.

Creating an estate plan you feel good about is not a one-time project. You will want to update it if you have more children, divorce, marry, when your children become adults, and at other key junctures in your life. What your family would need with school-age children is much different than what they would need when those children have flown the nest.

If you have minor children, it is vital to consider what might happen to them. If their other parent remains alive, typically, the answer is simple. However, if they have no surviving parents, you need to have created a plan for who will care for them – and discuss that plan with the guardians you have identified. If you have not established this, a judge will determine guardianship of your children.

Creating an estate plan and revisiting it throughout your life can make you confident that your wishes will be fulfilled after you die. While losing you will not be easy for your loved ones, you can make it easier by allowing them to focus on their grief rather than logistical disputes over your estate.

How We Can Help

Cumberland County estate planning attorneys will get to know you and your family, to help you understand the options available to you for planning your estate. We can provide various services, including helping you create a simple will, developing a trust, identifying your estate administrator, drawing up any planned giving documents, considering guardianship for children or people with special needs, and even helping you prepare for retirement or long-term care.

Working with an estate planning attorney is the best way to ensure that your will and other documents meet all of the legal requirements to hold up in court. Working with us now will save your family a huge amount of stress later – consider it the last gift you can give them. Give us a call today to plan for your family’s future.

Cumberland County Life Care Planning Attorney

There may come a time in your life when you can no longer decide for yourself. That can be a terrifying proposition. The best way to address that fear is to create a comprehensive life care plan with the help of a Cumberland county life care planning attorney.

Why Create a Life Care Plan

Your life care plan will specify your wishes for your healthcare, finances, and other aspects of your future. This is useful in case there comes a time when you are not able to make those decisions. Creating a plan ensures that your wishes are carried out, not those of someone else.

When you make these decisions ahead of time, you make it easier for your loved ones to navigate a challenging time. Instead of guessing what you would want, they can follow a plan you created ahead of time. For example, you can decide whether you prefer in-home nursing care or move into a facility where those services are available. Making those plans now, while fully capable, will take a weight off your shoulders.

You can also consider the costs of those different options and how you would be able to afford them. Usually, we can help you create a plan to protect your assets and qualify for Medicaid. That way you can pass those assets on to your heirs instead of spending them on your long-term care. We can also help you determine whether or not you qualify for additional support, such as veterans’ benefits, and how those will impact your planning.

When Should I Start Planning?

It’s never too early to plan for your long-term care. Unfortunately, you could experience a devastating accident at any time. However, there are a few indicators that now might be a good time for you to start thinking about your life care plan.

If you have recently been diagnosed with a progressive or terminal illness, it’s good to start making your plans before the disease progresses too far. We know that a diagnosis like this can be incredibly painful, but developing a plan can help you feel more in control.

If you have suffered a stroke or other health scare or are newly experiencing blindness or other impairment, that could also indicate that you should consider your long-term plans.

Another trigger to begin creating a plan could be losing a loved one. Watching a parent, sibling, spouse, or close friend go through this phase could encourage you to make a plan to make your end-of-life care go smoothly. Even if you are perfectly healthy, it is never too early to consider your long-term plans.

When you work with us, we will assign you an elder care coordinator to help you develop the entire plan and answer all your questions. They will also help you work with your Cumberland County life care planning attorney to create a plan that will make a plan that will work well for you and your family. Give us a call today to get started.

Cumberland County Medicaid Planning Attorney

At the end of your life, chances are good that you will require significant medical care. Many wonder how this kind of care will impact their family’s finances, especially if they need around-the-clock care in a nursing home.

The health insurance you may carry will not cover this kind of care, which means that most people depend on Medicaid to cover these services.

Qualifying for Medicaid

Medicaid is a needs-based program, meaning your income and assets must be below a strict limit before you qualify. Most families need to significantly spend their savings and sell off their family home before qualifying for Medicaid. That can result in someone who saved their entire life having nothing left to pass along to their children because it was all spent on their end-of-life care.

Medicaid also looks at your assets five years back to prevent you from distributing property to your heirs and immediately qualifying for the benefits. They will investigate your financial history and ensure you have not done this. That’s why you need to plan far ahead with the help of an attorney.

How Can We Help?

Our Cumberland County Medicaid planning attorneys can help you understand the legal options you have for disbursing your assets so that you can qualify for Medicaid. We’ll get to know your unique situation and consider gifts, trusts, and other financial vehicles to protect everything you have worked hard for.

The earlier you begin this planning process, the better off you will be. You should begin planning at least five years before applying for Medicaid. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to know when you will need these services, so planning now will ensure that you are ready when the time comes. It also allows us to protect your children’s and grandchildren’s inheritance so that you can support their futures.

Putting a plan in place now is the best way to feel confident about your future. It can also be very fulfilling to begin transferring your wealth to family members while you are still healthy and active. This way, you get to see them spend it on their dreams, rather than receiving it when they are grieving you. A grandparent could support their grandchild’s study abroad trip through an early inheritance and still be able to hear their stories and see pictures, rather than saving that gift for after their death.

If you want to learn more about Medicaid planning, call our Cumberland County attorneys today and find out how we can help you and your family.