Our Experience

Everyone has an estate, but not everyone has a plan.  Every adult needs to have an estate plan.  Estate planning will not only make your own life easier, but also provide guidance to your family and caregivers if you are unable to communicate your own wishes due to disability or death.  This becomes even more important when you have dependants, such as young children. Our lawyers understand your needs at every stage of your life and, with our knowledge, can assist you with putting in place a deliberate and thoughtful strategy that works for your circumstances.  Our team can handle the legal aspects of this strategy:
 

  • Drafting your Last Will and Testament, Power of Attorney, and Health Care Directive.
  • Supporting you and your other advisors (financial advisors, tax planners, and insurance professionals, etc.) at different stages in the life cycle of your estate plan.  This may include reviewing insurance strategies, assessing assets, tax planning, and providing advice on options and risks.
  • Establishing what sort of inheritance you need to leave for your dependants or others in your life.
  • Assisting you with complex issues, such as second marriages, split families, appointment of executors and decision makers, to help you structure your estate plan appropriately.
  • Gift planning for charitable or non-profit organizations.
  • Assisting with business transition plans to facilitate a successful transition of your business to the next generation.
     
Estate Administration
We assist with estate administration matters, including reviewing wills and other testamentary documents, assisting with administering estates, obtaining letters probate, and more.
Guardianship
Our lawyers assist aspects of guardianship, including advising on the type of guardianship needed, preparing guardianship applications, and assisting with contested guardianships.
Trusts
We assist with trust-related matters involving settlors, trustees and beneficiaries. We assist with wealth planning during life and upon death, including conditional transfers.
Wills, Powers of Attorney and Health Care Directives
Our lawyers assist with drafting Wills, Powers of Attorney and Health Care Directives. We assist with estate planning, executors and decision makers, and charitable gift-giving.
Primary Contacts in Estate Planning
Recent Insights in Estate Planning
Challenging a Will for No Capacity or Undue Influence
Ellen Fitzgerald
Article
An issue in estate litigation that continues to make its way before the court is the issue of the incapacity of a testator (the person who is making the will), and whether they were unduly influenced. This question often comes before the court in an application to have a will proven in solemn form. This type of court application tests the validity...
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