Practice Areas

Estate Planning

Life Requires Planning. . .

You’ve worked your whole life.  You’ve saved your whole life.  You’ve raised your children.  You have a family.  You have a partner.  You have a life.  Have you considered how you would like your assets to be distributed after you are gone?  Have you considered who you want making critical medical decisions for you in the event you are not able to make those decisions yourself?  Have you considered the effect that the federal estate, New Jersey estate and New Jersey inheritance taxes might have on your estate, and the tax burden that may befall on your loved ones?  Have you planned for your life and for your death?

What Are Your Options? Simply stated, you can do nothing or you can make a plan.  If you do nothing, then the State in which you live will impose its estate plan on you.  In such case, after your death, assets will be distributed in accordance with the Intestacy laws of your State.  That State-imposed estate plan is not likely to be the plan that you desire.  However, by not acting to affirmatively create an “estate plan,” you are effectively deciding to allow the laws of the State to ultimately govern your affairs and direct the distribution of your assets upon your death.

Many people think that only very wealthy individuals need an “estate plan,” and many others think that an “estate plan” consists of only a Will.  However, with the growing medical needs of an aging population, coupled with the need to protect hard earned assets from excessive taxation for beneficiaries, each of us requires an estate plan.

Let Us Plan For You.  At Fendrick & Morgan, LLC, we believe that every individual should have a plan: an estate plan.  In its simplest terms, an “estate plan” describes how your assets will be distributed when you die and how decisions can be made for you during your lifetime (both financial and medical decisions).  When we talk to you about an “estate plan,” we talk not only about how your assets are to be distributed upon your death and about the death tax consequences of your passing, but also about the very important documents which help navigate your medical and financial decisions during your lifetime.  We recognize that each client has their own story and financial situation.  Those considerations must be evaluated in devising an estate plan that is appropriate for you in order to ensure that your assets are well protected during your lifetime and beyond.   To that end, we not only prepare for you the much needed estate planning documentation, but we create a personalized estate plan that suits your needs and the needs of your family.

We help you find answers to questions like:  Where do I want my money to go after I die? Or  How should my assets pass to my beneficiaries? OR   Do I want my life to be extended by life support or other artificial means if a medical event has left me in critical condition without any hope of recovery? And, once we’ve found the answers to these questions, we implement the plan for you.

Whether your estate is modest and you are concerned about providing for specific beneficiaries; or, your estate is taxable for federal or New Jersey purposes and you are concerned about minimizing death tax exposure; or, you have business interests or disabled beneficiaries to consider, we can design a plan to meet your specific needs.  Your life requires planning, and we can help.

Be Proactive. Even the best drafted Will has little value if one’s assets are depleted in later years by health care costs, or the assets do not pass through the Will but instead pass by operation of law or beneficiary designation.  Estate tax laws provide opportunities for individuals to preserve their estates for their heirs.  The extent to which wealth can be preserved varies, depending on the size of your estate and the estate tax laws in effect at that time.  With proper planning, you can create maximum flexibility in your legal documents so your estate pays the minimum amount of death taxes.  But, if you don’t act—if you don’t plan—health care and long-term care costs and/or death taxes can dramatically reduce the assets of your estate which would otherwise have been available to your beneficiaries. You, and your family, cannot afford to not be proactive.

What can estate planning do for me?

• Minimize estate and inheritance taxes
• Provide for loved ones
• Preserve control over assets
• Clarify and protect wishes to avoid family disagreements
• Appoint a guardian to care for minor children
• Control age at which children receive inheritance
• Create flexibility for changing tax laws
• Simplify administration of estate
• Protect assets from creditors
• Select an individual to handle affairs in the event of incapacitation or death
• Avoid unnecessary future legal expenses