Estate Planning

 

WILL

A document by which a person (the testator) regulates the rights of others over his or her property or family after death. Estates that are over $100,000.00 must be supervised by the Probate Court.

 
TRUST
An arrangement whereby property (including real, tangible and intangible) is managed by one person (or persons, or organizations) for the benefit of another. A trust is created by a settlor, who entrusts some or all of his or her property to people of his choice (the trustees). The trustees hold legal title to the trust property (or trust corpus), but they are obliged to hold the property for the benefit of one or more individuals or organizations (the beneficiary), usually specified by the settlor, who hold equitable title. The trustees owe a fiduciary duty to the beneficiaries, who are the "beneficial" owners of the trust property.
  
POWER OF ATTORNEY

Power of attorney is an authorization to act on someone else's behalf in a legal or business matter. The person authorizing the other to act is the principal or granter (of the power), and the one authorized to act is the agent or attorney-in-fact.

  
ADVANCE HEALTH CARE DIRECTIVE

Instructions given by an individual specifying what should be done for his or her health in case he or she is no longer able to make decisions.

 
  
ADMINISTRATION OF ESTATE

Arises if the deceased is legally intestate (dies without a Will or Trust). If no Will is left or the Will is invalid or incomplete in some way, then an administrator must be appointed by the Court. Administrators perform a similar role to the executor of a Will but, where there are no instructions in a Will, the administrat