HOW MASSACHUSETTS AND RHODE ISLAND LIVING TRUST LAWYERS HELP YOU PREPARE IN CASE OF INCAPACITY

Massachusetts and Rhode Island living trust lawyers provide help in planning ahead in case of incapacity. Though no one wants to think about it, illness or an accident could leave you incapacitated and unable to manage your own affairs. When this happens, it is helpful to have a plan in place to ensure that someone you trust will immediately begin to take control over your money and property. 
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Fabisch Law Offices attorneys can work with you to identify the right tools to use to plan ahead for incapacity. Typically, a plan for incapacity should include, at minimum, an advanced directive or health care proxy, to allow someone to make medical decisions in accordance with your wishes, and a financial power of attorney, to allow someone to manage your finances. But while a healthcare proxy and financial power of attorney can be helpful both for making advanced plans for medical care and for giving someone authority to make decisions on your behalf, many people also choose to consider a living trust as part of their incapacity plan. Our Massachusetts and Rhode Island living trust lawyers explain how living trusts work, why they are a valuable part of your incapacity plan, and how we can help you with trust creation. To find out more, give us a call today.

Why Should a Living Trust be Part of Your Incapacity Plan?

A living trust, also sometimes called a revocable trust, is a trust that you create during the course of your lifetime. You can manage the assets that are held in the name of the trust and you have control and flexibility that you would not have with other types of trusts, such as an irrevocable trust.
Though a living trust will not keep your trust assets safe from creditors or to shield those assets from counting if you need to qualify for Medicaid to pay for nursing home care, a living trust will be helpful in case of incapacity because you can name a backup trustee.

The backup trustee can immediately take over the management of the trust assets if something happens to you. You will not need to worry about the delays that can come with a guardianship or conservatorship, while a court determines if you are incapacitated and who should be the guardian of the assets that you own. Instead, the backup trustee can immediately move to keep the wealth that you transfer into the trust safe by managing it in an effective and appropriate manner if something has happened to you.

In addition to providing flexibility and safekeeping during your lifetime, your living trust can also be helpful after you pass away. Assets that are held within the living trust will not need to pass through the probate process, which is a lengthy and expensive process that can leave an executor in charge of assets for many months or years instead of the heirs or beneficiaries who will become the new owner of those assets.

While there are other tools that can, and should, be part of an incapacity plan, because of the substantial benefits that a living trust provides, many clients choose to include this type of trust in their plan. Let Fabisch Law Offices help you to decide if you want to make a living trust part of your incapacity planning tools.

How Can Massachusetts and Rhode Island Living Trust Lawyers Help You?

Massachusetts and Rhode Island trust attorneys can work with you to understand the risks to your wealth and independence in case of incapacity. Some assets must be more carefully managed than others, for example, and the creation of a living trust can be especially important under these circumstances.

We can also help you to follow the formal process required to create a trust and can guide you through the process of funding your trust (putting the assets you want to protect, into the trust) with the assets that you are trying to protect. Your backup trustee will be the person who takes control over the trust assets if something happens to you, so our legal team will also explain the duties of the backup trustee and help you to determine who is best suited to this position based on the responsibilities that the trustee will have in case you become incapacitated.
Contact Massachusetts and Rhode Island Living Trust Lawyers Today

The Massachusetts and Rhode Island living trust lawyers at Fabisch Law Offices can provide you with the help that you need to figure out if creating a trust should be a part of your incapacity planning. We can also work with you to identify other incapacity planning steps that you should take in order to protect your wealth and maintain your independence as long as possible in the event something happens to you.

To find out more about living trusts and other legal tools, including financial powers of attorney, healthcare proxies, and medical orders for life sustaining treatment that you can use to plan ahead in case of incapacity, give us a call at 401-324-9344, or contact us online to get personalized help with your incapacity planning and with your trust and estate plan creation process.

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