Montgomery County Estate Planning Lawyer

Estate planning is a broad area of law that involves everything from planning for future medical care to minimizing estate tax exposure through lifetime gifting and determining the disposition of assets upon death. When it comes to planning for the future, each individual’s goals are unique and depend upon many factors, including the financial portfolio involved, their desire to leave a legacy, concerns over protecting a surviving spouse, and the necessity of preventing post-mortem conflict.

An experienced Montgomery County estate planning lawyer understands the client-specific nature of estate planning and can work to understand your goals and evaluate your situation to determine the best estate planning tools available to obtain those goals. By working with an experienced trusts and estates lawyer, you can come up with a plan that makes the most sense for you and your family.

Potential Estate Planning Documents

A skilled estate planning lawyer in MoCo has an arsenal of tools available to provide to individuals to build a customized estate plan designed to accomplish their future goals. For many people, a primary estate planning goal is the minimization of post-death conflict among family members while simultaneously passing assets with minimal court intervention and tax liability.

Examples of the various protective documents that a Maryland estate planning lawyer can help draft include:

• Trusts
• Living Wills
• Last Will and Testament

Each of these tools serves different purposes and can be shaped to reflect a person’s individual needs. Appropriate use of these and other estate planning tools can help reduce post-death conflict and make the property division process easier. Despite this, conflicts do arise, and a skilled attorney can be a valuable asset in helping to obtain an equitable outcome.

MoCo’s Tax Regime

Unlike the majority of states in the country, Maryland continues to impose both a state-level estate tax and an inheritance tax. For wealthier individuals who do not plan to leave the bulk of their assets to close family members, this can require a potentially complex set of documents designed to minimize estate tax exposure through lifetime gifts and charitable contributions.

Maryland’s estate tax exemption has de-coupled from the federal exemption of $11.18 million and only protects assets up to $5 Million. Because of this, state-level estate planning remains important for even moderately wealthy families who wish to minimize transfer tax liability. A reputable estate planning lawyer in Montgomery County understands how potential fluctuations in the estate tax exemption amount and non-tax estate planning objectives continue to make estate planning an important issue for every family and can use that knowledge to help create a plan that considers this.

Contact a Montgomery County Estate Planning Attorney Today

No one is able to predict when an accident or medical issue will strike, making it important to seek legal guidance as early as possible in order to protect your loved ones and assets following death or incapacitation. A skilled attorney can be key to crafting an effective estate plan in order to clearly and successfully carry out your post-death wishes. Whether your estate planning goals are centered upon ensuring that your health-related wishes are carried out or minimizing taxes and conflict, contact a Montgomery County estate planning lawyer to evaluate your options today.