Boulder Estate Planning Lawyers Serving Colorado

What is an Estate Plan?

An estate plan is a plan for you and your assets (your “estate”) in the event that you become incapacitated or die. With an estate plan, our Boulder estate planning lawyers will help you decide ahead of time who will care for you if you become incapacitated and who will care for your property in that event. You can also decide who will get what assets of yours and under what terms after you die.

What Makes an Estate Plan a Good One?

You should feel confident that your estate plan is a good one if you chose the right trust attorney: an attorney who only practices estate planning and administration; your attorney listens carefully as you explained your family situation, your goals, and your concerns; and your attorney walks through the documents before you signed them, answering all of your questions and making any changes you decide on together.

There’s no substitute for experience so choose a Boulder estate planning lawyer who has been practicing in this area for many years. At Braverman Law Group, LLC, our partners have each exclusively practiced trusts & estates law for over twenty years.

You also need to feel comfortable with your attorney so that you can share private family matters and concerns fully. Your plan will only reflect what you share. Many clients have shared personal and family concerns without expecting them to influence the plan and were surprised and relieved to learn that there are steps we can take to address those concerns through the estate planning process.

The Documents at the Heart of Your Estate Plan

The Revocable Living Trust is the heart of most estate plans. We prefer trust-based planning because it provides for management in the event of your incapacity and avoids time-consuming, public, and expensive probate.

The Healthcare Power of Attorney is a critical document because it authorizes the person or people you choose and trust to make medical decisions for you in the event of your incapacity.

The Property Power of Attorney enables your trusted friend or family member to manage your non-trust assets and benefits like Medicare in the event that you are incapacitated.

Your Living Will provides instructions about your wishes for life-sustaining treatment in the event your situation is dire.

Estate Planning Documents That Make the Others Work

You also need a Certification of Trust: a two-page document that summarizes the facts about your trust for you to share with your bank. You’ll need to transfer your bank accounts into your trust by using your Certification of Trust.

You will still need a will even if you opt for trust-based planning. A will leaves everything to your trust to ensure that all of your property gets to the people you intend, even if it’s not in your trust and has to go through probate.

A HIPAA release ensures that your agent for Healthcare and other family members can get critical medical information about you in the event that you are unable to authorize sharing that information with them.

Finally, we provide you with a 24/7 membership card that gives you – and any hospital you’re taken to – instant access to your Healthcare Power of Attorney, your Living Will and your HIPAA Release.

These aren’t the only documents you need in your plan, but they are the most important ones. We review every document with our clients to ensure that they understand it, that it reflects their wishes, and that any modifications to better reflect their wishes are made.

Clients trust Braverman Law Group, LLC to protect their futures and their wealth from the dangers of incapacity, lawsuits, and probate. In addition to experience in estate planning, Braverman Law Group, LLC is also comprised of experienced Boulder county probate attorneys.

Risks of Not Planning

Without an estate plan, it will be up to the court system and whoever files a petition to decide who will care for you and your assets. Maybe it will be the person you want it to be. In that case, the downside of not planning is that handling your affairs through the probate court is expensive and time-consuming. But maybe the person who files a petition to take charge over your life will not be the one you would have chosen. In that case, without a written plan indicating that you have a different preference, the person who filed may be granted authority over your affairs.

Without an estate plan, after you are gone, your assets will be divided among your relatives according to whether you are married, how long you were married, whether you have children, with the rest going to your nearest legal relatives.

Special Needs Planning

Diedre Braverman, an author of the treatise, Special Needs Planning, published by the California Bar CEB, is an experienced practitioner at guiding parents and recipients through the maze of preserving eligibility for public benefits while protecting an inheritance or the proceeds of a lawsuit. If you or your client is expecting a personal injury settlement, call us right away so the settlement need not be delayed.

Elder Law

Diedre’s experience in government benefits law extends to elder law: the preservation of estate assets while qualifying an elder for needed nursing home benefits. In elder law, planning ahead saves money. In fact, for every month that you plan ahead, you could save over $8,000.

Contrary to popular perception, Medicare does not provide benefits for long-term care. Medicare’s nursing home benefits are limited to a few months of recovery immediately after a hospital stay for people who are expected to return home after this period of therapy.

Asset Protection

Braverman Law Group, LLC’s Boulder asset protection attorneys use strategies ranging from domestic Limited Liability Companies in asset-protection jurisdictions to irrevocable trusts for beneficiaries.

Estate Administration & Probate

When there is a death, Braverman Law Group, LLC’s Boulder County probate attorneys provide the highest level of compassionate care to the survivors as we guide the trustee and executor through the administration of the estate whether that includes probate or not.

Gun Trusts

These trusts, which insulate the owner of a gun from liability arising from unauthorized use of that gun, are coming soon.

Here to Help

When you are ready to take control of your own future and take charge of how your assets will affect your loved ones after you are gone, it’s time to plan your estate with Braverman Law Group, LLC. We invite you to call for your free consultation with one of our experienced Boulder county probate attorneys, who can help you with your estate planning and probate needs at (303) 800-1588 today!