Advanced Estate Planning Lawyers in napa california

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Ensuring Clients Can Keep Their Wealth Within the Family

Everyone can benefit from estate planning services, but some families need to consider advanced strategies to protect their assets. In particular, families with a high net worth should consider advanced estate planning services from a law firm with experience assisting clients with asset protection. After all, the more money you have in your estate, the more you stand to lose through taxes, so you should get legal advice from an attorney to help you minimize your losses with careful estate planning. 

At Celaya Law, our team strives to help clients find ways to keep their money in the family after they pass away so their loved ones can benefit from their hard-earned wealth.

If you want to learn some strategies to leave your beneficiaries as much of your money as possible, contact us for legal representation while creating an estate plan. 

What Is Advanced Estate Planning?

Regardless of how much your estate is worth, you should hire Napa Valley attorneys for guidance meeting your estate planning goals. An experienced lawyer will review your assets to determine whether you need a will, trust, or other strategies to protect your house, bank accounts, and other assets when you pass away. A skilled lawyer will ensure that your plan features clear instructions on which family members will get your assets. They will also look for legal options to reduce taxes and protect your property from lawsuits and creditors.

As you begin the estate planning process, your lawyer will let you know if they recommend advanced estate planning techniques for you. This will depend on your net worth. If it’s much higher than average, you’ll benefit from an attorney explaining which strategies will protect you from taxes, creditors, and other potential threats to your estate.

Who Needs Advanced Estate Planning Help?

Generally, clients with a high net worth need to use advanced strategies when planning their estate. But it’s not always clear who fits into this category. A knowledgeable lawyer can let you know if you need this type of service after reviewing your assets and the goals for your estate. But one clue that you could benefit from advanced estate planning services is that your net worth is over $5.50 million if you’re single or $11 million if you’re married. This is because this amount of money is higher than certain federal tax exemptions, so you could face taxes that you would not be subject to with a lower net worth. 

Other reasons to get advanced estate planning assistance include:

• You have children from a previous marriage 
• You have at least one beneficiary with special needs
• You own one or more businesses
• Your industry puts you at risk of lawsuits as a business owner
• You plan to leave a large amount of money to charity

What Are Popular Advanced Estate Planning Strategies?

Experienced attorneys will help you choose from a wide range of estate planning strategies to minimize taxes and other liabilities. One of the most popular ways to protect valuable estates and avoid probate is a trust. When you transfer your assets to a trust, they’re no longer legally in your name and may be shielded from threats that include high taxes and lawsuits, depending on the type of trust. Your lawyer will discuss the trusts that would be right for you, some of which could include:

• Generation-skipping trust
• Irrevocable life insurance trust
• Qualified personal residence trust
• Dynasty trust
• Grantor retained annuity trust
• Children’s trust
• Special needs trust

Trusts tend to be popular advanced estate planning tools, especially when you want to avoid probate, but there are other strategies to consider, too. One is a family limited partnership, or FLP. When you transfer your assets to your FLP, you can still manage them during your lifetime while gifting limited partnership interests to your beneficiaries.

Are You Ready to Contact Inheritance Trust Lawyers in Napa, California?

If you’re overwhelmed by planning for the future, call our law office for the support you need. We understand how confusing and intimidating this process can be, especially when you have a lot of money at stake, and that’s why we’re eager to help.

Once you have an understanding of the right strategies for your estate, we’ll assist with setting them up. Whether you’re ready to create a living trust, have questions about probate law, or want to learn how trust administration works, we can help.

Contact us at 707-754-0977 to talk to a caring legal professional about how wills, trusts, and more can protect your estate.