The Law Offices Of Keane, Thomas And Pinnacoli
1439 NE Jensen Beach Blvd.,
Jensen Beach, FL 34957
A comprehensive estate plan protects your assets, safeguards your legacy, helps you provide for your loved ones, and ensures that any emergency and end-of-life care complies with your wishes.
The Law Offices of Keane, Thomas & Pinnacoli have been providing professional, compassionate, and client-focused estate planning services across the Treasure Coast for over 25 years. Contact us today for a free consultation with an estate planning lawyer in Stuart, FL.
More About Estate Planning Services
Your will is a crucial legal document in your estate plan. A will outlines your final wishes regarding your estate and funeral and burial arrangements. Typically, a will provides instructions about distributing assets to beneficiaries, appoints a trusted personal representative to settle your estate, and names a guardian for your minor children if you have any.
While some Florida residents choose to make their will using an online template, these DIY solutions may result in confusion, misunderstandings, and inheritance disputes. As your estate planning attorneys, we can create a will for you or update your existing will to make sure it:
Provides a full and detailed list of all your assets and designated beneficiaries.
Covers updates in your family situation, like marriage, divorce, the birth of a child, or a family member’s passing.
Appoints a capable and qualifying personal representative who either resides in Florida or is your close relative by marriage, blood, or adoption.
Complies with state requirements, like requiring signatures of two competent adult witnesses.
Aligns with other legal documents that form part of your estate plan, like trusts and powers of attorney.
A trust is a legal body that involves three parties: a grantor, a trustee, and a beneficiary. As legal entities that can own, manage, invest, and distribute property, trusts are extremely useful in estate planning. The right type of trust can help you avoid probate (the process of a judge choosing how to distribute your assets if you had no estate plan), keep your estate private, and provide for family members.
The experienced estate and trust lawyers of the Law Offices of Keane, Thomas & Pinnacoli can help you decide which trust answers your estate planning needs and help with trust management and amendments.
As its name suggests, a revocable living trust is a type of trust you may revoke or modify at any time during your lifetime. A revocable trust allows you to act as the grantor, trustee, and beneficiary simultaneously, so you can retain full control over trust assets. When you pass, a revocable trust automatically becomes irrevocable, and a successor trustee takes over trust management.
The main purpose of revocable living trusts is to avoid probate. Typically, Florida estates undergo a probate process that takes six to nine months, but trust assets pass directly to beneficiaries with minimal hassle.
Unlike revocable trusts, irrevocable trusts are nearly impossible to amend or dissolve. An independent trustee is responsible for trust management, while the trust creator and beneficiaries have no direct control of trust assets.
Although Florida doesn’t currently impose estate or inheritance taxes, estates are still liable to Medicaid and creditor claims. Placing property in an irrevocable trust protects your assets and helps you avoid liability.
A special needs trust (SNT) allows you to provide for a family member with special needs while preserving your loved one’s eligibility for public benefit plans. SNTs include various types of trusts, like first-party SNTs, third-party SNTs, and pooled SNTs. Our attorneys can help you set up the right type of special needs trust for your family’s needs.
A durable power of attorney (POA) is a legal document that lets your chosen representative act on your behalf if you become incapacitated. The specific authorization depends on the type of POA. For example, a medical power of attorney allows your representative to make important decisions regarding your medical care, while a durable financial POA can authorize your representative to manage your bank account or sell property on your behalf.
At the Law Offices of Keane, Thomas & Pinnacoli, we can help you draft clear, legally valid durable POA documents that give the proper authority to the right people.
An advance directive is a legally binding document that outlines your wishes regarding your healthcare in case you are incapable of making decisions or communicating your wishes. Advance directives often cover topics like life-sustaining treatment, palliative care, and organ donation. An advance directive also names a trusted healthcare proxy who can make critical decisions on your behalf.
A HIPAA release form should accompany your advance directive to allow your chosen proxy full access to your medical records.
Our legal team provides effective legal strategies to help you achieve your estate planning goals. Whether your estate is large or small, when you entrust your estate planning to the Law Offices of Keane, Thomas & Pinnacoli, you benefit from:
From creating an estate plan to updating existing estate planning documents, probate management and litigation, and help with estate closure, we do it all.
You can only create and sign wills, trusts, POAs, and other estate planning documents while you have full use of your mental capacity. Since life is unpredictable, there’s no better time than now to start working on your estate plan.
At the Law Offices of Keane, Thomas & Pinnacoli, we help our clients create efficient, secure, custom-tailored estate and retirement plans. Whether you’re planning to create a will, establish a trust, or set up an advance directive, our team is here to provide the estate planning services you need. We also handle all matters related to probate and estate administration in Southeast Florida.
1439 NE Jensen Beach Blvd.,
Jensen Beach, FL 34957
