Estate Planning, the Right Way

Do you want to ensure that your health, your family, and your assets are taken care of in the future in the way that you’d like them to be?

As you’re making critical decisions regarding these issues, would you feel more secure having the reliable input and caring assistance of attorneys who’ve dedicated their careers to helping people safeguard their futures?

Whether you’re single, married to the boy next door, or married to the girl from another continent … whether you’re a person of modest assets, a multimillionaire, or ultra wealthy … whether you’ve never had children, or whether you’re an empty nester, expecting your first child, or raising a large, blended family, you need professional estate planning provided by an attorney specializing in the field.

At Morgan & DiSalvo, we help all kinds of people create complete, customized estate plans that leave no stone unturned when it comes to determining the most important aspects of their futures. Proper estate planning is a complex process that should never be done with fill-in-the-blank templates. Our friendly, caring service and patient, thorough explanations empower our clients with the knowledge they need to make the best choices for themselves and their families, and our years of experience and training allow us to prepare documents which will carry out our clients’ wishes effectively, with as few hassles as possible.

Estate Planning

Care, Control, Confidence

Why make an estate plan? Because you care about your family, you want to be in control of what happens to you, your family, and your assets, and you want to be confident your wishes will be executed precisely while minimizing conflict.

Estate planning is essentially arranging for your own care, if needed, and for the eventual distribution of your wealth to your loved ones. It includes selecting and empowering fiduciaries to carry out your wishes. A properly prepared estate plan will allow your loved ones to confidently carry out your financial and health care wishes if you become incapacitated, without the need for court proceedings or court oversight. It will also allow you to pass your property as you desire, select guardians to care for and raise your minor children after your death, and reduce the effects of “death” taxes, such as estate or inheritance taxes, which may apply.

Every individual in Georgia has an estate plan by default. This is because, if you don’t have a Will in place at your death, state law determines how your assets will be distributed. Your failure to make an estate plan can result in financial hardship or devastation for the loved ones who survive you, since assets may pass in an undesirable manner, and since the effects of income and estate taxes can be potentially severe. A qualified Georgia estate planning attorney can help you structure your assets and your legal documents so that your desired beneficiaries receive your assets in the way you want them to, while minimizing any costs, hassles and taxes.

What should you look for in an estate planner?

First, it’s important to understand that estate planning is a process and not an event. Your estate plan should be comprehensive, coordinated, and documented. You need to make sure that your assets are owned properly, and that your beneficiary designations are coordinated with your overall plan. Estate planning documents should not be thought of as products which can be purchased “off the shelf.” Instead, estate planning documents such as Wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and advance directives for heath care should be viewed as documents designed as part of a consultative process and intended to work as part of an overall plan.

Since estate planning is designed to address the effect of events which will happen in the future, it often requires answers to questions you may not have thought of on your own, and it often means that you have to consider multiple possible scenarios, rather than just the situations you believe are most likely to occur. Some of the most common comments we receive from our clients here at Morgan & DiSalvo are “This is more complicated than we thought” and “We never thought of that possibility.” The advice and guidance of an experienced, focused estate planning attorney can be an invaluable and critical part of the estate planning process.

Look for a professional adviser who has the proper credentials and experience, and who will assist you in reaching your goals and objectives. Avoid planners or automated forms who treat you as a generic person by feeding your information into pre-constructed forms that don’t take your individual circumstances and preferences into account. You generally should select an attorney who practices in the state in which you have your primary residence, as each state has its own set of rules which can affect the provisions of your estate plan.

We invite you to use the wealth of information provided on this website to educate yourself on estate planning and the other areas in which we practice. Check in often, as news, updates and insights are added frequently in our ongoing efforts to provide our clients and prospective clients with the tools they need to help plan their futures. In addition, to help ensure that you receive periodic information and insights, please sign up for our newsletter, “The Passionate Estate Planner,” by sending a request to info@morgandisalvo.com

Of course, we welcome the opportunity to speak with you, as well. Call us at 678-720-0750 or send us an email to arrange your complimentary estate planning consultation so we can sit down and discuss a customized estate plan that’s right for you.

Our lawyers provide tax, estate planning, probate, and estate  administration services to all of greater Metro-Atlanta including  Acworth, Alpharetta, Buckhead, Canton, Cartersville, Clarkston, Cumming,  Decatur, Duluth, Douglasville, Dunwoody, Gainesville, Johns Creek,  Kennesaw, Lawrenceville, Marietta, Milton, Mountain Park, North Fulton,  Roswell, Sandy Springs, Smyrna, Snellville, Stone Mountain, and  Woodstock. We also service those throughout Cherokee County, Clayton  County, Cobb County, DeKalb County, Forsyth County, Fulton County, and  Gwinnett County.