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On Thursday, February the 15th, our attorney Dan Swinton led a talk on the importance of estate planning at Grillstone in Scotch Plains. We know that not everyone was able to attend the seminar but we still wanted to give everyone the opportunity to learn about how important estate planning is for securing your families peace of mind.

To start with, it’s important to remember that estate planning isn’t about how much money you have. Its focus is on protecting what you do have and making sure it ends up where you want it to be while you’re here and after you’re gone. There are many good options when it comes to how you’d like to begin your estate planning including the creation of trusts, wills and other legal documents such as power of attorneys and living wills.

Asset protection is a large part of estate planning, making sure spouse, children, or otherwise loved ones are not inheriting a burden after you are no longer able to maintain them yourself. Although everyone should have a plan to protect their assets certain professions are at especially high risk of lawsuits and judgments. These include people with high risk jobs, professionals such as doctors and accountants, or people facing imminent legal problems.

It is important to remember that 1 in every 2 people will have an extended stay in a nursing home. With those odds, it's crucial to protect your loved ones from the burden of the bills, which often run into the hundreds of thousands. Your health insurance can often help, but if for instance the stay is over 4 or 5 years it may run out.

In Mr. Swinton's talk he went over the many pitfalls to not having a written estate plan including the potential for fees and taxes your loved ones may be responsible for. We also provided everyone who came with some written information should they wish to review what was talked about on their own time. Not to mention some fantastic Grillstone food!

We look forward to meeting you at our next seminar!

If you are seeking to speak to someone about estate planning call today for a free consultation 800-709-1131 or fill out a contact form on our website for a no-cost consultation.We hope to hear from you today!