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Wills, Trusts and Powers of Attorney The Law Offices of Sean C. Lemieux provides experienced, personalized service to create Wills, Trusts, Powers of Attorney and Living Wills tailored to the specific needs of each client’s unique circumstances. With particular experience in planning for the distinctive needs of lesbian, gay and nontraditional/unmarried couples, Sean Lemieux can help you protect your loved ones and provide you with the security that comes with knowing your wishes will be fulfilled.
If you fail to plan properly, your future, and that of your loved ones, can be affected in profound ways. In Indiana GLBT families, and other non-traditional families, are at best ignored by those who make the rules. In a disagreement between your partner and your relatives, your partner, and ultimately you, likely will be at a serious disadvantage unless you’ve thought ahead. Sean Lemieux will work with you to help ensure your wishes will be fulfilled and your loved ones protected. Contact Us
FAQs
A: A Will is the document you use to direct what happens to your assets after your death – who gets what. You also use your Will to nominate the person to be in charge of seeing that your final affairs are wrapped up and your assets are distributed as you direct. If you have children, you may also use your Will to nominate a guardian for your children if your death were to occur while they are still minors.
There are rules for creating a valid Will. Sean Lemieux, an experienced estate planning attorney, can help guide you through the process to ensure that you have a valid Will that will fulfill your wishes in the most efficient and least expenses manner. The value of your assets does not determine whether you need a Will. Whatever you have, you’ve worked for it and it should be up to you to decide what happens to it.
A: If you do not have a Will, the state has laws that say how your property is distributed after your death. It goes to a lawfully recognized spouse, children, parents and other blood relatives. The law provides no protection for your same-sex or unmarried partner (or your friends or favorite charity). Without a Will, your partner will inherit none of your property. Even if you’ve had a commitment ceremony at your church, been married in Canada or Massachusetts, or registered as domestic partners with your employer, the result is the same. Without a Will, your blood relatives, or the state if you have no blood relatives, will receive your property upon your death. A: A Trust is a legal entity, created by a trust agreement, which holds title to assets for the benefit of the trust beneficiaries. The person who creates the Trust is the grantor or settler, the person or entity who holds title to the trust property is the trustee and the people who benefit from the Trust are the beneficiaries. With some trusts one person is grantor, trustee and beneficiary.
In some circumstances a Trust can be used to control assets in ways Wills cannot. Sometimes, proper use of a Trust can minimize tax consequences or eliminate the need for probate after a person’s death.
Whether you need a Trust is best determined after a thorough review of the nature of your personal circumstances, financial situation and the goals you wish to accomplish. Sean Lemieux can can review your goals with you and help you decide whether a Trust is the most cost effective way to meet your needs.
Q: What is a Health Care Appointment or Power of Attorney? A: A Health Care Power of Attorney is a specific power of attorney in which you give someone the authority to make health care decisions for you if you are unable to make such decisions for yourself. The authority only becomes effective if and when you are unable to make health care decisions yourself.
If you do not appoint someone to make healthcare decisions on your behalf by having a valid Health Care Power of Attorney, the state has default rules which will control. If you become ill or injured and are unable to make health care decisions for yourself, the state has a law saying who gets to make those decisions for you. This is especially problematic for GLBT and other unmarried couples. Under the state rules the authority to make health care decisions for you is given to a lawfully recognized spouse, adult children, parents and other blood relatives. Unless you have a Health Care Power of Attorney appointing your partner to make these decisions, he or she has no decision making authority. Too often in these circumstances, blood relatives can, and do, exclude partners from decisions and even from visiting you in the hospital. Having a Health Care Power of Attorney allows you to control who will make these important decisions for you.
A: A Financial Power of Attorney is a document in which you appoint someone to manage your financial affairs if you become unable to manage them yourself. If you are ill or injured, who do you want to have access to your bank account to make sure your car payment is made, or the mortgage and light bill get paid? If you don’t have a power of attorney, it’s likely that a guardianship would be necessary to give someone the authority to take care of your financial affairs. The guardianship process is much more complicated and expensive. More importantly for some, the guardianship laws provide no preference for a same-sex or unmarried partner to be appointed as the guardian. This could result in having your partner or a close friend -- whom you really want to take care of things for you – being completely cut out of decision making.
A: A Living Will is a document which express a person’s desire that life prolonging medical procedures not be used in certain circumstances. If you have an incurable injury, disease or illness, your death will occur in a short period of time, and using life prolonging procedures will only delay the dying process, you can say you do not want those procedures. You can also indicate whether or not you want artificial nutrition and hydration (often called “tube feeding”) under those same circumstances.
To take advantage of this right to refuse care you must leave written instructions and those instructions must substantially conform to the specific requirements of the living will law. That means simply writing a note with “I don’t want life support” is not likely to result in your wishes being followed. Attorney Sean Lemieux can help you make sure your wishes are expressed correctly.
Please contact Attorney Sean Lemieux if you would like more information on Wills, Trusts and Powers of Attorney: |
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