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Spring Cleaning - Time to Review and Renew |
By: Lawrence N. Berwitz, Esq. & Maureen Rothschild DiTata, Esq.
Berwitz & DiTata LLP
Garden City, New York |
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Tax season is over! Spring has sprung! It’s time to review and renew. It’s time for the annual Berwitz & DiTata LLP Review and Renew program. Each spring, we encourage our clients, friends and would be friends to focus on estate planning, refresh those resolutions and stop procrastinating.
If you have never created an estate plan, now is the time. Although estate planning is a topic that some people find difficult, we are dedicated to helping clients identify and implement their estate planning objectives with ease and efficiency. We believe that our success is founded on this fundamental commitment to communicate with our clients in a caring and responsive manner. Those who have met with us in a one on one consultation know that we believe that everyone can benefit from estate planning regardless of personal income or net worth. Everyone has concerns regarding the future. For instance: How can I avoid probate and the dissipation of my assets to estate taxes? How can I avoid losing control of my assets if I become disabled? How do I protect myself and my family from devastating nursing home costs? How can assets be transferred if a relative is already in a nursing home? In designing strategies to effectuate our clients' goals, we offer detailed advice and a high level of technical expertise. Now is the time to achieve estate planning peace of mind! Ask those questions, explore the options, get it done.
If you created your estate plan, or reviewed it last, more than 3 years ago, now is the time. Are your documents up to date? Have there been changes in the law or in your life that should now be considered? The documents that address the needs of a single person are frequently insufficient when he or she marries. If a couple has children, the appointment of a guardian should be a key factor in estate planning. Those documents that were created when the kids were small may no longer reflect their parents’ wishes now that the kids have grown and flown. Indeed, once your child has reached the age of eighteen years, he or she should have a valid and enforceable Health Care Proxy empowering you or another to make health care decisions. The "sandwich generation" is discovering that the joy and responsibility of raising children is all too frequently overshadowed by the illness of parents. The need for estate planning takes on new meaning as one approaches retirement and, if illness threatens, timing becomes more critical. Lifetime changes affect estate planning. Even if we can't imagine what changes in our lives could affect these important documents, an estate planning review is a vital element to ensuring that your wishes will be accomplished.
Because Berwitz & DiTata LLP understands the importance of keeping the plan current, we offer our clients a unique value added component: a complimentary three year review. For those who have not yet retained our services, there is a nominal fee to review your plan. Let us help you realize your estate planning objectives.
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