Most people consider Estate Planning as the process of creating trusts or reallocating assets to minimize estate taxes.

Selden & Youngs fully supports any of your desires to pay as little estate or other tax as legally allowed. A good estate plan, however, will incorporate all of your goals.

If it is important to you to be control of what happens to your assets after you pass on, estate planning puts you in control of the process. Things to consider when planning your estate:

• Will the heirs receive equal or unequal shares?
• At what age will your heirs get their share?
• Do you wish to leave specific assets to certain heirs?
• Is it your wish to deliberately leave out or disinherit any potential heirs?
• How to handle distribution of benefits when a couple has children from a previous marriage?
• What to do if a couple for personal reasons has built separate estates?
• How to handle or control an irresponsible heir?
• How to deal with mentally or physically disabled heirs?
• What to do to insure a designated heir uses the inheritance for a specific purpose such as college tuition?
• What plan is in place should the grantor outlive the beneficiary?
• How to arrange for specific gifts to special heirs?

If you care about the ones you love, you will not leave estate planning for tomorrow. Let’s face it, anything can happen. Know that when you go to bed each night you have peace of mind that should something happen to you, there is a formal plan in place to legally take care of your heirs. Estate Planning is a complex process, but it also assures that more of your estate goes to your heirs and less to the state or government in the form of taxation.

Free Initial Consultation and Estate Planning Evaluation
Because Selden & Youngs believes that quality Estate Planning is dependent upon a close working relationship between you and your attorney, a free initial consultation is always offered. The consultation may take up to two hours and focuses on your particular needs and concerns, your current estate plan, and the nature and extent of your assets. During this time, you will learn about options that you might have for structuring your estate plan.

Estate Planning services will be quoted on a flat fee basis at the end of your initial meeting. It is important to Selden & Youngs that you know up front what the final charge will be for the work. We believe that knowledgeable clients are good clients, and we want you to be able to call and ask questions without the concern of being charged separately for that time.

Comprehensive and Top-Quality Estate Planning Strategies
Selden & Youngs attorneys are knowledgeable and capable in each area of Estate Planning and can produce top-quality documents, from simple wills to complex trusts. You can be assured that each document prepared is reflective of your individual needs and concerns, and is not a "fill-in-the-blank" approach in which one size fits all.

Selden & Youngs is client-centered, offering the most up-to-date and highest quality legal expertise in:

• Estate Planning, including: Revocable Living Trusts Wills and Community Property Agreements
• Estate Tax Planning
• Irrevocable Trusts Charitable Remainder Trusts
• Planned Giving Consultation
• Probate Representation
• Family Limited Partnerships / LLC’s
• Asset Protection Planning
• Business Succession Planning
• Premarital Agreements

Guide to Basic Estate Planning Strategies