Beroes Law Center

Pittsburgh Estate Planning Attorney

You’ve worked hard for years to provide for your family and accumulate assets. Now it’s time to consider the future and safeguard the legacy you will leave behind for your loved ones. By creating an estate plan including a will, trusts, powers of attorney, and other documents, you can control what happens to your assets while protecting your heirs from unnecessary delays and expense.

If you need to create an estate plan in Pennsylvania, an estate planning law firm like Beroes Law Center can help. Beroes Law Center is a family-run legal firm that handles estate planning and probate matters for families in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Allegheny County. If you need help setting up a trust, writing a will, or creating a comprehensive estate plan, Beroes Law Center can handle all your estate planning needs. Contact us today to arrange an initial consultation with an attorney.

Estate Planning and Probate Services

Estate planning services we offer at Beroes Law Center include:

Drafting a will so you can control who receives your assets when you pass away
Creating trusts to manage your assets while keeping them out of probate
Establishing powers of attorney for your finances and health care decisions if you become incapacitated
Creating a living will to let doctors know what kind of medical care you want to receive

When a person dies in Pennsylvania, a court must validate their will and oversee the distribution of their assets. This process is known as probate. Beroes Law Center can show you how to keep as many assets as possible out of probate, protecting your privacy and avoiding delays.

We also assist executors and families with the probate process. Disagreements between heirs often lead to probate litigation. If you have a probate disagreement to resolve, we can represent your interests effectively and vigorously.

Drafting a Will in Pennsylvania

Drafting a will is the first step in estate planning. If you don’t have a will, the court will determine who receives your estate according to Pennsylvania’s intestate succession laws. Your spouse, parents, children, siblings, and grandparents will receive a share depending on the situation, which may or may not align with your wishes. Creating a will allows you to decide who your beneficiaries will be and what they will receive.

In Pennsylvania, a valid will must be in writing. You must be of sound mind and at least 18 years old to draft a legally binding will. You must sign the will unless you cannot. In this case, you can make your mark or verbally indicate your approval of the will in the presence of two witnesses, who must sign the will.

By drafting a will, you can:

Name the beneficiaries who will inherit your assets
Specify how your assets will be distributed, including real estate, finances, and personal property
Name a guardian to care for any minor children
Name an executor to administer the estate after your death

Choosing the right executor is one of the most important decisions you will make while drafting your will. The executor is responsible for administering your estate, so they should be someone you trust completely.

Creating Trusts to Manage Your Assets

Although a will is a vital tool in estate planning, it is not sufficient on its own. Assets passed down through a will must go through probate, which has several disadvantages. Probate takes time and occurs in public. Your heirs will have to wait until the process is complete to inherit anything, and the process does not protect your financial privacy. The careful use of trusts can protect your assets from going through probate.

There are several different types of trusts in Pennsylvania, including:

Living or Revocable Trust – When you create a living trust and transfer your assets into it, the trust becomes the owner of your assets. Because you are no longer the legal owner, those assets don’t need to go through probate when you die. However, you can still benefit from and control those assets while you are alive, and you can pass the trust on to a beneficiary when you die. A living trust is also called a revocable trust, because you can revoke it.
Irrevocable Trust – These trusts cannot be revoked the way a living trust can. However, it can be beneficial to put some assets in an irrevocable trust because they have tax benefits.
Charitable Trust – This is a trust created for charitable purposes, allowing you to use your estate to benefit a cause that you care about.
Special Needs Trust – If you have a family member with a disability, you can use a special needs trust to provide for their needs without jeopardizing their ability to qualify for benefits.

Beroes Law Center can help you understand the different types of trusts and set up the right ones to help you achieve your goals for your estate.

Using Powers of Attorney to Ensure Your Wishes are Fulfilled

A power of attorney is a document that gives a trusted agent the authority to make certain decisions for you once you lose the ability to make them for yourself. There are two types of power of attorney in Pennsylvania:

A financial power of attorney gives your agent the power to make financial decisions for you if you become incapacitated.
A healthcare power of attorney gives your agent the power to make healthcare decisions if you become incapacitated.

Powers you can grant with a financial power of attorney include the power to:

Buy and sell property on your behalf
Buy and sell personal property, like cars and furniture
Buy and sell stocks, bonds, and other financial instruments
Borrow money
Buy insurance
Take care of your taxes

Powers you can grant with a healthcare power of attorney include the power to:

Refuse or consent to specific treatments based on your stated wishes and values
Handle your pain management decisions
Choose your doctors or healthcare facilities
Make decisions about life-sustaining care, such as feeding tubes or ventilators

Letting Doctors Know What You Want with a Living Will

Your Pennsylvania estate plan should also include a living will, a document that tells doctors what types of medical care you want to receive if you become incapacitated. For example, you can specify that you don’t want to receive life-sustaining treatment if you are permanently unconscious. A living will is a legally binding document, so your healthcare agent cannot overrule it. If you have both a living will and a healthcare power of attorney, your healthcare agent will make decisions based on the instructions in your living will.

Contact Beroes Law Center for Your Estate Planning and Probate Needs Today

The best thing you can do to prepare for your family’s future is to create a comprehensive estate plan. No two estate plans are exactly the same, because no two families are exactly the same. A skilled estate planning lawyer can help you decide how to structure your estate plan to achieve your goals.

Beroes Law Center assists families with estate planning, probate, or family law needs in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, and nearby communities in Pennsylvania. We are a proud family-run law firm – let our family help your family. If you need help with estate planning or probate, contact Beroes Law Center today to get started with a consultation.