Estate planning isn’t just for the wealthy or elderly. For anyone with children, a house, investments, or other assets, an intuitive and intelligent estate plan ensures peace of mind for you, your heirs and beneficiaries, and your financial future. At Melone Hatley, P.C., our experienced Newport News, Virginia trusts and estates lawyers have dedicated themselves …
In general terms, a conservator is responsible for managing an incapacitated person’s financial affairs. A guardian is appointed to make broader decisions focusing on the incapacitated person’s personal and medical decisions. If an adult can no longer manage their personal affairs, the court will appoint a substitute decision–maker. An adult who lost their ability to …
Estate planning comes in all shapes and sizes. It includes updating beneficiary designations on financial accounts and insurance policies, adding joint owners to accounts, and gifting personal property items during one’s life. Estate planning is about maximizing the financial benefit for your heirs and ensuring smooth and simple transfers of property. Oftentimes avoiding probate means …
When you die, you want to leave your loved ones in a good financial position and minimize the complications they face regarding accessing the property and assets you have left to them. Taking steps to reduce probate in Virginia can ensure a quicker process of accessing your assets and property for your beneficiaries. Probate can …
In the Commonwealth of Virginia, only interested parties can contest a will. An interested party is an individual that has standing to challenge the estate and is usually someone who is entitled to receive property under the will. It could also be someone who has a legal right to part of the estate, such as …
As the name implies, an irrevocable trust is a trust that cannot be revoked, modified, amended, or terminated by its creator (the grantor) with very limited and specific exceptions. Once the grantor has transferred an asset into the trust, it removes his/her right of ownership and that asset will no longer be considered the property …
There are two primary reasons for having an estate plan: To make sure that your family and loved ones are taken care of to the best extent possible following your death, and To provide clear instructions on what should happen to your estate following your death Without a will or trust, the Virginia courts will …
A special needs trust, also referred to as a supplemental needs trust, provides for a person with a mental or physical disability and allows the beneficiary to receive gifts, lawsuit settlements, or other funds and yet not lose his or her eligibility for certain government programs, including, Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and other state …
