Do you hope to leave the world a better place than it was before you? Most people want to make their mark and make a positive impact, although this can mean different things to different people. Perhaps you want to provide for your children or grandchildren, or perhaps your goal is to make a large charitable contribution to a cause you can believe in… or perhaps you want to do both of these things and more. Your legacy is in your hands and the sooner you begin to create a plan for what you want to accomplish in this world, the greater the chances of achieving your dreams.
Legacy Care Law Firm is here to help with your comprehensive legacy plan. Our Beverly, MA inheritance planning attorneys will offer you personalized advice aimed at building and protecting wealth and ensuring that your assets are distributed appropriately after you are gone. Contact us now to find out about the services we offer to clients in the Greater Merrimack Valley area, in Southern New Hampshire, and in surrounding locations. We’ll offer you advice specific to meet your needs and can answer questions including:
- Why is legacy planning important?
- What is involved in legacy planning?
- How can a Beverly, MA legacy planning lawyer help?
Why Is Legacy Planning Important?
Legacy planning is important because:
- You want the wealth you have amassed over your life to serve a useful purpose. You cannot take your money and property with you, and you work hard to build your wealth so you can enhance the lives of your family or improve the world even after you are gone.
- You want to acquire and protect wealth so you can leave behind an inheritance. No matter how much you make in income, you can amass assets so you can leave something behind for people you love and causes that matter.
- You want your heirs and beneficiaries to receive the maximum benefit from the gift you give, with no downside. You want to maximize the usefulness of charitable donations and you want to ensure that a gift you give to loved ones is not lost because of divorce, bankruptcy, bad luck or bad decisions.
Legacy planning is about defining how you will be remembered and what you will leave behind. The process should start early and you should have trusted professional help both in defining your goals and in making use of the legal tools necessary to achieve those goals.
What is Involved in Legacy Planning?
The specifics of creating your legacy plan will vary based upon your unique situation and the goals that you have for after you are gone. Legacy planning may involve something as simple as creating a last will and testament so your family never fights over your assets and so you can make decisions about who inherits the money and property you have worked to acquire. Legacy planning may also involve much more complicated steps including:
- Creating a charitable remainder trust to earn tax benefits and to ensure you and the charities you believe in get the most out of contributions you make.
- Creating other types of trusts like special needs trusts or spendthrift trusts to ensure that your heirs are not disadvantaged or harmed by an inheritance and to ensure that the inheritance is appropriately invested and managed to protect investments.
- Developing a plan for the succession of your family business to ensure that the company you have built over time is not ended by your death but instead is passed on and only continues to grow better and stronger.
These are just a few of many different key steps which should be an essential part of a legacy plan. You may have additional steps to take depending upon who your heirs and beneficiaries are, the amount of wealth that you have acquired, the nature and structure of your assets, and a wide variety of other issues. With so many legal tools out there, the important thing is to find an experienced advocate who can put his legal knowledge to work to help you leave a strong legacy.
How Can A Beverly Legacy Planning Lawyer Help?
Legacy Care Law Firm prides itself on providing invaluable advice on legacy planning to clients in both Massachusetts and New Hampshire. To learn more about how we can help with the creation of a comprehensive legacy plan, give us a call today at our New Hampshire number, (603) 894-4141 or at our Massachusetts number, (978) 969-0331.
