Philadelphia Estate Lawyers

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Estate Planning

Estate planning is the process of deciding and documenting how you want your assets managed and distributed both while you are alive and after you are gone. It may also include planning for who will make healthcare decisions for you when you are not able to do so and arrangements for children, including setting up trusts for minor children and choosing guardians.

The four basic Estate Planning documents that all adults should have are: (1) a Will, (2) a Power of Attorney, (3) a Healthcare Power of Attorney, and (4) a Living Will. Depending on your financial and personal situation, trust planning may also be in your best interest.

Basic Estate Planning Documents

• Will. Your Will provides direction for what is to happen with your assets after you have passed away. It also appoints the Executor, who is the person or entity that you chose to be in charge of administering your estate, which in its most basic sense means gathering your assets, paying taxes, and distributing your assets in accordance with the Will. Your Will also may set up trusts (called Testamentary Trusts) for children, give assets to charity, and appoint guardians.
• Power of Attorney. Your Power of Attorney appoints an agent to act on your behalf in all financial matters, such as signing checks, selling real estate, and filing taxes. Your agent will have broad powers over your finances, so it is important to choose someone with financial savvy and stable personal finances. Your Power of Attorney ends at your death, so it is important to remember this is not a substitute for a Will.
• Healthcare Power of Attorney. In your Healthcare Power of Attorney, you will appoint a Health Care Agent to make health care decisions for you in the event you are unable to do so yourself. The authority given to the Health Care Agent is broad, even to the extent of instituting a Do Not Resuscitate Order. The Healthcare Power of Attorney also grants the Agent access to your health records under the HIPPA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996) privacy statute. Without this written authorization, the medical community is barred under federal law from disclosing medical records or information to third parties.
• Living Will. A Living Will, sometimes called an Advanced Directive, is a document that states what treatment you wish or do not wish to receive if you are terminally ill with no hope of recovery. The Living Will becomes operative only when your doctor certifies that you are incapable of making your own decisions and you are terminally ill with no hope of recovery. The Living Will essentially states that the signer does not wish to receive treatment that prolongs the process of dying once that condition is reached, and directs that treatment be limited to providing comfort and pain relief.

For all your estate planning needs, please call us at ThePhillylawyers 215-884-9300.

Estate Administration

Service as an Executor of an Estate is a serious responsibility. The Executor must administer the Estate under the dictates of the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and must comply with the terms of the Will. You will sometimes hear the term “Administrator” for someone handling an Estate. This is the formal name used if a person dies without a Will. In that case, the Register of Wills issues “Letters of Administration” to the next of kin of the decedent.

If you are named an Executor or are the person in line to serve as Administrator of a relative’s Estate, it is important to seek the advice of experienced legal counsel. An Executor or Administrator may be subject to personal liability in the event of a failure to carry out the duties of that office. Our firm has represented many Executors and Administrators in carrying out their responsibilities to administer the Estate, including identifying and collecting the assets of the Estate, pay the debts and taxes of the decedent and the Estate, filing all required forms and tax returns, and distributing the remaining assets according the terms of the Will.