Wills & Estate Planning

Generally speaking, everyone needs a will, trust, and/or other estate planning documents to ensure that their family is provided for and does not suffer undue inconvenience, to ensure their children get the guardian and trustee of your choice, and/or to ensure the IRS gets as little of your estate as the law allows.

Our firm can help you determine what type of estate planning is appropriate for your needs. We can help you navigate through the thicket of confusing laws to see that your wishes are carried out. Whether through wills, living trusts, irrevocable life insurance trust or family limited partnerships, we will help you set up an estate plan that does what you want, when you want and will protect your family. At John F. Williams, Jr., P.C., we can help with planning the continuation of your success to future generations.

We believe that a part of every comprehensive estate plan, no matter the size of the estate, is the inclusion of representative documents that allow individuals to name agents or representatives to carry out their wishes during the individual’s life during times they are unable to do so for themselves. Typically such documents consist of a Durable General Power of Attorney, Medical Power of Attorney, HIPAA Release and Directive to Physician commonly referred to as a Living Will.

These documents are critical in that they allow the individual to make decisions now regarding these potential situations where they are later incapacitated and unable to make any determinations of their own. These documents and their importance are set forth briefly to summarize their benefit.

A Power of Attorney is of great importance in the event that an individual or one or both of a married couple become incapacitated or disabled. The Power of Attorney will allow the alternate agent or the other spouse to act on the individual’s behalf with regard to financial matters of all types. Increasingly, these documents are being rejected by financial institutions if the institution deems the document to be “stale.” Thus, it is a good idea to update this document every few years.

A Medial Power of Attorney is a document that ensures individuals have selected a representative and alternate representative to become involved in making medical decisions on their behalf in the event that person is unable to do so for themselves. In this way, the individual selects the representative that has the legal authority to make these potentially life and death decisions rather than leaving it up to someone that individual would not prefer or the healthcare givers themselves in the event there are no family members with which to consult.

A HIPAA Release allows the medical attorney-in-fact to have access to the important medical documents that otherwise are protected by privacy acts that inadvertently make it difficult more those operating under a Medical Power of Attorney to make informed decisions on behalf of the individual.

A Living Will is an advance directive that lets the individual make decisions regarding life support and artificial life-continuing measures in time of terminal illness or irreversible conditions while still being able to make those decisions, thereby giving their Medical Power of Attorney agent direction to follow when and if those issues arise.