Creating a well-thought-out and competent estate plan isn’t just for wealthy individuals. Everyone over the age of 18 benefits from creating an estate plan. When you work with an experienced attorney, your attorney can help with issue spotting or identifying red flags that could leave your assets exposed and vulnerable.
Our Attorneys Effectively Help With Issue Spotting Issues with Estate Plans
When you work with Surprenant & Beneski, PC, we will consider any issues that could prohibit you from reaching your goals. We can anticipate issues before they happen and address them quickly. From changes in tax and estate planning laws to life changes, we are prepared to address them. Contact Surprenant & Beneski, PC, today to schedule an initial consultation.
Issue Spotting Prevents Common Estate Planning Mistakes
Estate planning and tax laws can change, exposing your assets to vulnerabilities. Significant life changes can also require changes to your estate plan. The estate planning attorneys at Surprenant & Beneski, PC, know what happens when common mistakes occur.
When we spot an estate planning issue, we will bring the issue to our client’s attention and present them with legal options for addressing the issue effectively. We take communication and feedback with clients seriously. At Surprenant & Beneski, PC, we prioritize ensuring that our clients can make informed decisions about any issues we spot and that they understand all aspects of their state plan.
Common Estate Planning Issues We Spot
While there are many different types of issues we can spot during a consultation with a new client or an appointment with a current client, these are some of the most common issues we need to address:
- Not having an estate plan
- An incomplete estate plan with no health care documents, disability, or legacy plan
- Estate tax issues due to jointly held property
- Estate tax problems due to the size of total assets
- Couples with minor children, adult children, grandchildren, or no grandchildren
- Individuals with pets
- Unmarried couples
- Problems with a child, such as substance abuse, poor judgment, or being a spendthrift
- Couples with difficult in-laws or adult children
- Business owners who’d like to pass their business to the next generation
- Blended families
- Parents with special needs children or grandchildren
- Highly appreciated assets
- Significant others’ IRAs and the survivorship trap
- Large life insurance policies
- Young couples
- Long-term care possibilities at a nursing home or in-home
- Property ownership in other states
- Rental property ownership
- Large debts
- High-risk jobs
- Singles, divorced individuals, widowers, or widows
- College expenses for the estate planner or his or her child
If one or more of the issues listed above applies to your estate plan, you aren’t alone. Everyone has estate planning issues that need to be addressed. Every estate plan is unique, and if your estate planning situation involves one or more of the potential issues mentioned above, you aren’t alone. With every estate plan, one factor could result in complications or potential issues.
Attorneys Can Spot Issues that Online Legal Service Providers Often Miss
Online legal service providers have become more prevalent in recent years. A customer can enter information and obtain a will and other estate planning documents for a relatively low fee. When customers use a boilerplate legal service, they miss out on having an experienced attorney engage in issue spotting. For example, the online system may not be able to spot potential issues with the customer’s blended family or adult child with a special need. An attorney would be able to spot an issue with a client’s estate plan and amend the estate plan to include a special needs trust.
We Take the Time to Get to Know Our Clients
The attorneys at Surprenant & Beneski, PC, work diligently to get to know each client individually. We spend time with every client to understand their background, goals, and other factors that could result in unexpected problems. Taking time to know our clients helps us look for potential issues that others may miss. When you work with an attorney, you can rest assured that we will use our experience and legal knowledge to find and address red flags with your estate plan.
Issue Spotting with Older Estate Planning Documents
Issues spotting in estate planning frequently involve reviewing older estate planning documents and looking for potential issues. We recommend making an appointment with your estate-planning attorney every time you experience significant life events. The birth of a child or grandchild, a divorce, a death in the family, and any other important life event could create issues with your current estate plan that need to be addressed.
For example, if you have been divorced, your estate-planning attorney can spot any potential issues with your beneficiary designations, will, or trust documents that need to be changed. Your estate plan may include provisions that are no longer legally valid because the laws have changed. In other cases, you may have named specific property in your state plan that you no longer own. We can also help you stop and update outdated guardianship provisions or powers of attorney.
Our firm offers a complimentary 30-minute review meeting to our clients every 3 years. This allows us to check-in and evaluate life changes, as well as, changes in the law in order to ensure that the client’s estate plan continues to work as they intend.
Spotting Potential Red Flags When Devising Complex Assets
When an estate planner has significant assets or a high-value estate plan, many different issues can arise. The attorneys at Surprenant & Beneski, PC, have extensive experience representing clients with high-value estates. We will carefully examine all of your assets and your goals and spot any potential issues that could arise in the future. For example, suppose your beneficiaries don’t get along or have opposing viewpoints on what to do with your real estate assets. In that case, we can help you create a strategy and solution to address that issue.
Contact an Experienced Estate Planning Attorney in Southeastern Massachusetts
An essential aspect of creating an estate plan is spotting potential red flags. Whether you want to create a new estate plan or review an existing one, our attorneys can help you spot potential problems. At Surprenant & Beneski, PC, we have represented many of our clients for years and through many life changes. Our estate planning attorneys help clients by spotting any potential issues. We help clients address issues effectively and quickly. Contact Surprenant & Beneski, PC, today to schedule your initial consultation.