The transactional attorneys at Hauk & Owens, LLC believe a properly crafted estate plan should give guidance to your family if you become disabled and distribute your estate upon your death in exactly the way that you intend. In doing this your estate plan should maximize the efficiency of the administration to minimize the stress on your family during what can be a difficult time. Furthermore, your estate plan should reduce or eliminate every tax, fee, and court costs possible.
At minimum your estate plan should answer the following questions:
At Hauk & Owens we understand that your time is valuable. We offer a free initial consultation to review your current estate plan and discuss exactly what you want your estate plan to accomplish. Prior to our first meeting we will send you a confidential client information form for you to complete. This allows us to really get to know you and your family situation at our first meeting instead of spending the entire meeting getting standard biographical information. At the conclusion of our initial meeting we will give you an estimate of how much it will cost to prepare your estate plan. In some situations we will be able to prepare your complete estate plan that same day. In others we will need a few days to review asset information and craft the plan. Our attorney will go over everything with you prior to signing your plan so that you understand exactly what your estate plan does. Most estate plans can be completed within two weeks. Please let us know if there is any reason to complete the estate plan sooner than that, as we are sometimes able to accommodate a shorter timeframe.
Some of the tools we use to craft your estate plan are:
If you have been named as an agent under a power of attorney, executor under a will, trustee under a trust, or if your family member didn't do any formal planning and you're just taking charge to help, you need an experienced attorney to assist you with the administration of your loved one's estate. In each of these situations you are acting in a fiduciary capacity so it is vitally important (both for the effective administration of the estate and because you could be held personally liable for anything done improperly) that the proper steps are taken.
At Hauk & Owens we represent fiduciaries (executors, trustees, guardians or agents), beneficiaries, heirs, and claimants during the administration of estates. Whether the estate is a simple transfer to a sole-heir beneficiary or a complex litigation situation, we will guide our client through the entire process and explain each step of the way. We will provide a roadmap for what steps need to be taken, when they need to be taken, and why.
We use a variety of fee structures for estate administration cases and we will be able to give you an estimate of time and costs involved at the conclusion of your free initial consultation.