Estate Planning

ESTATE PLANNING IN LEXINGTON, KY BENEFITS EVERYONE

Estate planning may not be your first thought, but preparing for the future is wise – and simpler than you might think. Provide for your children, leave your business in good hands and ensure your wishes are respected. For an estate planning attorney in Lexington, Kentucky, call 859-559-4648. Attorney Peter Brackney walks you through the process of:

Selecting an executor
Creating an estate plan
Establishing trusts
Providing for minor children

There’s an efficient way to distribute your money. Our local attorney updates your last will and testament, maintains your living will and oversees healthcare proxy.

More than anything else, we tend to avoid thinking about death and taxes. But these two things cannot be avoided. Benjamin Franklin said that “in this world nothing can be certain except death and taxes.”

Given this certain eventuality, doesn’t it make sense to be prepared?

With the proper estate planning, you can ensure that the assets you’ve worked so hard to acquire during your life go to those whom you intend when you pass away. Taxing authorities like the Internal Revenue Service and the Kentucky Revenue Cabinet are looking to take the share of a decedent’s estate, but that can be either avoided or mitigated with the right planning by a Lexington Kentucky estate planning attorney.

But even if your net worth isn’t in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, having the proper estate planning is vitally important. In your will you can designate what would happen to your minor children in the event that you pass away. This can help avoid confusion and dispute within an already grieving family.

With the proper planning and the preparation of the documents, Brackney Law Office, PLLC can help you to develop a blueprint for those you care about to follow with regard to your wishes about medical treatment, the distribution of your property, and the future care of your pets and minor children.

Other documents can help ensure your wishes are carried out both in life and in death. The following list includes a few of the estate planning tools that Brackney Law Office, PLLC can assist you with:

• Last Will and Testament. A last will and testament explicitly sets forth how you want your assets to be divided and who you would want to become the guardian of your child should something happen to you.
• Living Will. A living will lays out to your family and physicians your wishes about the kind of medical care you wish to receive in the event you become incapacitated with an end-stage medical condition. Let your loved ones know your wishes far in advance with a properly prepared and executed living will.
• Heathcare Surrogate Designation. If you were incapacitated, is there someone (or more than one individual) whom you would want making your medical decisions? A healthcare surrogate designation does just that and works in conjunction with your living will.
• Power of Attorney. A power of attorney allows you to designate an individual, or more than one person, to act on your behalf in making decisions other than medical decision (that’s the purpose of a healthcare surrogate designation). A power of attorney designation can become effective immediately or it can become effective only in the event you become incapacitated.

Don’t leave these important things to chance.

At Brackney Law Office, we try to provide most estate planning services on a flat fee basis as much as possible. Clients with complex trust provisions, business succession planning, tax planning, or special needs trusts may be charged fees additional to those shown below based on their individual circumstances.

Initial Consultation

An initial consultation fee of $150 is required on all estate planning matters. This amount is applied to any complete estate plan (will or trust) that you retain us to do within 45 days of the initial consultation.

Basic Will Plan

$550 Individual/$750 Couple. The “Basic Will Plan” includes for each person a Basic Will, a Durable or Springing Financial Power of Attorney, and Healthcare Documents (Designation of Healthcare Surrogate, Living Will, and HIPAA Release). A Basic Will leaves the entire estate to one or more persons, does not include specific bequests (except for general bequests of tangible personal property), provisions for minor children, or any trust provisions.

Family Will Plan

$675 Individual/$875 Couple. The “Family Will Plan” includes for each person a Will with one trust provision for children and/or grandchildren, a Durable or Springing Financial Power of Attorney, and Healthcare Documents (Designation of Healthcare Surrogate, Living Will, and HIPAA Release). A Family Will Plan is designed for families with minor children as well as for parents who want to leave assets to their adult children in trust until they reach specified ages or milestones.

Living Trust Plan

$1,100 Individual/$1,800 Couple. The “Living Trust Plan” includes for each person a Revocable Living Trust, a Pour-Over Will, a Durable or Springing Financial Power of Attorney, and Healthcare Documents (Designation of Healthcare Surrogate, Living Will, and HIPAA Release). This package is a probate avoidance plan and is unnecessary for most families. It can, however, be useful for older individuals or for individuals owning real property in more than one state.

Other Estate Planning Services

Transfer of Assets to a Trust, $250/hour
Standalone Financial Power of Attorney, $200
Standalone Health Care Documents, $150
Review of Existing Will/Trust not drafted by BLO, varies by length of document
1-8 pages, no charge with consultation
9-20 pages, $100 + consultation
21-35 pages, $250 + consultation
36-50 pages, $350 + consultation

Note: The pricing for all documents includes only the drafting and signing of the initial document. Clients will be charged additional fees for any changes (codicils) or amendments made after the document has been signed. This schedule of fees was first published on November 27, 2016 and is subject to modification.

Take a proactive step by contacting an estate planning attorney at Brackney Law Office, PLLC, to schedule a consultation by calling (859) 559-4648