Plainfield Estate Planning

Find the right Wills & Trusts attorney in Plainfield, NJ

"Estate planning" in Plainfield refers to the decisions a person makes regarding what is to be done with their assets after their death, and the process of implementing those wishes.

The problems that estate planning raises are sometimes very difficult. Without competent legal and financial advice, many problems can pop up, which can easily throw your entire plan into disarray, and cost your survivors a great deal of time, energy, and money.

In addition to post-death decisions, estate planning also concerns matters that might affect you during your life, such as granting power of attorney to a family member or trusted friend in case you become unable to make your own decisions regarding your finances or medical care. Furthermore, effective estate planning can minimize the impact that estate taxes and court fees will have on your final disposition to your loved ones.

If you want to maximize the odds that your wishes will be followed after your death, you should do everything you can to make them legally binding. While this is not always possible, a Plainfield attorney will be able to make sure that, where it is possible, it is done.

Common Features of Plainfield Estates

Will: This is a legal document which transfers ownership of the testator's (the person making the will) property to named beneficiaries after the testator's death. The beneficiaries can be just about anyone the testator chooses, but smaller estates, usually only include family members, and maybe very close friends. If you want, you can place conditions on gifts (say, leaving a certain amount of money to your son, but only if he graduates college before he turns 25 - this is just an example). However, a will can't actually compel anyone to do anything, and some conditional gifts won't be enforced, typically because they involve an illegal act, or require a person to marry or refrain from marrying a specific person.

Living Will: Unlike ordinary wills, a living will contains instructions concerning a person's medical care. Some recent high-profile controversies have illustrated the importance of making a living will, even for younger people. In a living will, you can give your family members and doctors instructions about your desired medical care, in case you become incapacitated (comatose or brain-dead, for example) and can't tell them yourself. Some people say that they would not want to be kept alive by artificial means if they are in a vegetative state, and there's no chance of recovery. If this is you, that's definitely something to include in a living will. Of course, if you would prefer the opposite, being kept alive as long as is medically possible, you can put that in your living will, as well.

Power of Attorney: What if you become incapacitated, and can't make your own decisions? It would be nice if somebody knew what you would want in a given situation, and, on top of that, had the legal authority to make that decision for you. Power of attorney lets you do exactly that, granting a person of your choice the ability to make certain decisions for you, in case you, for whatever reason, can't (you can, of course, control the scope of power that you grant).

Funeral Arrangements: You should make it very clear to the people handling your funeral what type of funeral you want, and what you want done with your body. You should not put these instructions in your will, because wills are often not read until days or weeks after the testator dies, by which point it may be too late to give their wishes on this subject effect.

Do I Need a Plainfield Estates Lawyer?

A good lawyer in Plainfield can make the process of estate planning as easy as it possibly can be. He or she can help ensure that your wishes are given effect, and minimize the chances of disputes between your survivors.

Talk to a Wills, Trusts & Estates Law Attorney now!

Life in Plainfield

Plainfield is known as "the Queen City" and is home to 50,000 Union County residents. The City of Plainfield covers a total of 6 square miles and plays host to a predominantly African-American community. With such a strong school system, it's interesting that less than 35% of the households were married families.

The Barack Obama Green Charter High School, New Jersey's first sustainable High School, is located in Plainfield. The high school is focused on green building and sustainable practices for faculty and students.

Citizens can get around the city with the convenient New Jersey Transit rail stations and bus systems. For travel, Plainfield is located just 25 minutes from the Newark Liberty International Airport.

The Plainfield Symphony was founded in 1919 and performs at the Crescent Avenue Presbyterian Church making it one of the oldest orchestras in the entire United States. It may be surprising to find out that the area was settled by Quakers in 1684 and Plainfield was an incorporated as early as 1869. It was a manufacturing center for chemicals, clothing, vehicle parts, and electronic equipment and was popular among the other New York Metropolitan Area suburbs.

Many of the homes from the extravagantly wealthy still remain there in full glory. The historic district of Plainfield has a number of homes with locally influenced architecture including the former home of New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey who was also a lawyer.

Plainfield lawyers are knowledgeable of local courts and procedures and will likely be able to help you with whatever legal issue you may be facing.

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