Estate Planning Attorneys

Planning for the inevitable future

A complete estate plan should address the possibility of incapacity for yourself or a loved one and asset administration, as well as what happens after death.

Your family and your estate are unique. The Gravis Law estate planning team will help you create an effective and efficient plan that reflects your goals and wishes – in language that you can understand. We gather information about your family, assets and your wishes and intent, in order to make informed and appropriate recommendations for a plan that best achieves your goals.

In many cases, at the initial consultation we can quote a flat fee for preparing your estate planning documents so you know in advance how much our services will cost. For more complex estates, we may need to bill hourly for assets such as a business, tax planning and other special issues.

We can help you with estate planning

Elder Law: Elder law encompasses a wide range of legal matters affecting older and aging clients. Our Gravis Law Attorneys can advise and advocate for elderly clients, their families and their caregivers in a wide range of legal issues that face older clients.

Living Will: A living will, also known as a health care directive, designates what medical procedures a client wishes to be subjected to in the event of a terminal or permanent condition.

Powers of Attorney: Alongside and apart from the Wills and Trusts aspect of estate planning, having an effective durable power of attorney in place for both financial and health care decisions is a cheap alternative to an expensive guardianship proceeding and a must have.

Probate Law: Probate law can be tricky and complicated but at Gravis Law we are dedicated to making complicated situations uncomplicated.

Wills & Trusts: We offer a consultation to first assess what instrument(s) or service(s) will best fit your situation without overdoing it and incurring unnecessary costs or maintenance.

Charitable Giving

If you would like to support a cause or organization that is close to your heart, that can be incorporated into your estate plan in a number of ways. If you want to see the effects of your donation we can propose lifetime gifting options and ideas. If you want to make a gift in your will, we can advise on the most effective ways to do so.

We also work to ensure the charity is a qualified organization if tax planning is involved and propose language designed to ensure your gifting goals are effective.

Taxes

There are estate taxes, also known as inheritance or death taxes. There are gift taxes, income taxes (particularly for retirement assets). These rules and laws have been changed and amended at a dizzying pace in the past few years.

For larger estates, estate taxes may be an issue at both the federal government and some state governments.

The United States federal government wants to collect estate taxes from estates of over $11,580,000.00 in 2020. Each state has their owns rules for estate taxes, some states do not collect an estate tax when someone dies (currently Idaho, Florida and Michigan do not, for Gravis offices), but Washington and Oregon do, at far lower dollar amounts than the federal government.

We know how to structure your will or trust to maximize your estate tax exemptions and can advise on the tax consequences of your estate plan.

Next Steps

Planning for the future can feel overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. Start simplifying the process with our comprehensive Estate Planning Checklist. Call to schedule a consultation with one of our highly qualified estate planning attorneys.