Our Practice Areas
Personalized, Thorough, Compassionate
We Help Secure Your Family’s Future
Forbes Law creates estate plans that help provide peace of mind for you and your family. We take the time to learn about your family’s unique situation, and we work through a variety of scenarios in order to help you plan for the future.
We understand the task of providing for your loved ones is inherently sensitive and complicated. Our team is committed to handling our work with the utmost care, compassion, respect, and confidentiality.
We leverage the full extent of the law and estate planning tools to protect your assets and carry out your wishes. We also offer full estate administration services.
Will
A Will allows you to direct what happens to your assets after you die, name a guardian for your minor children, provide care for your pets and make charitable contributions. Additionally, a Will allows you to clearly and expressly state your wishes regarding special needs children, elderly parents and blended families. In a Will, you select the person to carry out your final wishes (the executor). Without a Will, a court will make all these decisions for you.
Trust
A Trust is a legal agreement where a grantor (you) transfers title of assets to a Trust to be managed by a trustee for the benefit of a chosen beneficiary. A Trust is custom designed to each individual’s particular circumstances. Some common features of a Trust include: provide for spouse during their lifetime while securing inheritance for children; provide for beneficiaries’ maintenance, education and financial needs; or protect against a beneficiary’s poor spending habits. There are two basic types of Trusts: Living Trusts and Testamentary Trusts. A Living Trust is created during the grantor’s lifetime. A Living Trust can be revocable, meaning the grantor can change or revoke the Trust during the grantor’s lifetime. Alternatively, a Living Trust can be irrevocable which means it can never be changed or revoked. A Testamentary Trust comes to life through a Will after the person’s death and can be altered prior to death but becomes irrevocable after death.
Guardianship
A legal guardian is someone given legal authority to care for another person, referred to as a ward. Guardianships are most commonly created for minors but can also be used for special needs adults and elderly individuals. A legal guardian is given the powers necessary to accomplish what the ward cannot independently. Most commonly these powers are to provide for maintenance, financial, medical and educational care for the ward. Guardianships can be established permanently or temporarily.
Power of Attorney
A Power of Attorney is written authorization allowing someone else (your agent) to act on your behalf in dealing with your financial situations. The authorization you give your agent may be broad, narrow or somewhere in between. For example, a Power of Attorney granting broad powers will allow your agent to transact in most any financial situation on your behalf. On the other hand, a narrowly drafted Power of Attorney may limit your agent to transact in only specific situations such as paying a bill, selling a car or transacting real estate.
Advanced Healthcare Directive
An Advanced Healthcare Directive is a legal document that combines a Living Will and a Healthcare Proxy (also known as Healthcare Power of Attorney). In this document, the Living Will allows you to express your personal wishes regarding healthcare decisions in the event you are unable to make them due to illness or injury. The Healthcare Proxy allows you to name someone else as your agent to make healthcare decisions on your behalf should you be unable to make such decisions.
Estate Administration
Estate administration is the process by which an executor gathers the deceased’s assets, pays their final debts and distributes their remaining assets according to the deceased’s wishes. The entire process is governed and overseen by probate court. An executor does not have to be an attorney but should be someone capable, honest and trustworthy. The process of administering an estate can be cumbersome and a bit daunting for an executor. In part or in full, Forbes law can assist the executor throughout the estate administration process.
Our Process
Consultation
Get started by scheduling a free initial consultation.
Strategize
We will discuss your family’s situation and recommend estate planning strategies that will help secure your family’s future.
Implement
We will draw up your legal documents, sit down with you and review them thoroughly, and then ensure their full legal execution.