Estate and Probate Planning

Wills, Trusts and Estate Planning

You may put off estate planning for various reasons: you feel you don't have enough assets to make it worthwhile, the topic makes you uncomfortable, or you simply don't see the need. The reality is that every adult needs an updated estate plan, regardless of the size of their estate.

Because all clients and families are different,  Moore, Lewis, & Russwurm, P.C. offers a variety of services with which to customize each estate plan and meet your individual needs. Our extensive experience in this area allows selecting the tools that will achieve your goals with the least expense and fewest complications. Contact us today to schedule an initial consultation.   

Estate Planning Is Essential for the Following Groups:

• Parents with minor children, to ensure the children's financial support and that they will be cared for by the people their parents choose
• Parents with special needs children of any age
• Adults in a second marriage who have children from a previous marriage, in order to ensure that both a surviving spouse and adult children receive the assets the grantor intends to leave them
• Business owners, to ensure that their business survives and passes into the right hands
• Unmarried adults who wish to leave part of their estate to a partner or other unrelated person
• People who want to leave part of their estate to a favorite charity or organization
• People who want to maximize the assets received by their loved ones and minimize taxes paid to the government
• People who would like to have control over their own medical decisions, even if they become incompetent or disabled
• People who want to preserve family relationships and avoid fighting over their estate when they are deceased

Customized Services Exclusively for You

 Wills

This document communicates to your heirs and the probate court how you wish to dispose of all assets in your name that do not have a designated beneficiary.

Medical Directives and Living Wills

These directives instruct healthcare providers on medical treatment you should receive you are no longer able to communicate that information yourself. Medical directives can also appoint someone to make medical decisions on your behalf if you are incapacitated.

Revocable and Irrevocable Trusts

These mechanisms are useful for protecting assets from creditors, directing how they are to be used both during your life and afterward, and helping them pass from grantor to beneficiary outside of the probate process.

Asset Protection Planning

For clients with significant assets, this type of comprehensive plan minimizes tax burden while allowing control of assets and access to the income they generate.

Financial Power of Attorney

This directive gives an individual you designate the power to handle financial matters on your behalf if you are incapacitated.

Planned Giving

If you wish to leave assets to a favorite charity or organization, planned giving can allow the realization of tax benefits now while maintaining use of or income from the asset until death.

Medicaid and Long-Term Care Planning

Proper planning puts in place insurance and other tools to provide for needed nursing home or long-term care, without draining assets intended for the use of loved ones.

Succession Planning

If you have spent years building a business, succession planning ensures a smooth transition between their own management and their chosen successor, avoiding waste and preserving assets.

Retirement Planning

Moore, Lewis & Russwurm, P.C. helps you plan for a reliable income stream in retirement through the use of tax-free and tax-deferred retirement accounts, annuities and other strategies.

Tax Planning

Our attorneys keep abreast of the ever-evolving tax code so that we can help you protect your income and assets from being consumed by tax obligations.

Guardianships and Conservatorships

If a loved one is no longer capable of managing their personal or financial affairs, we can assist in getting a guardian or conservator appointed to take care of those matters.

Prenuptial Agreements

Prenuptial agreements are a common and helpful estate planning tool, and are especially useful to clarify goals and expectations in second marriages when the parties have children from previous relationships.

Real Estate Law

Moore, Lewis, & Russwurm, P.C. regularly represents both businesses and individuals in real estate transactions, including purchases, sales, leases and rentals. We understand that for many of our clients, such transactions are tremendously significant on both a personal and financial level.

Because real estate transactions can be very complex, our firm prides itself on attention to the minute detail in negotiating, drafting, and reviewing real estate agreements. Our focus is on protecting your interests and ensuring that you receive the best possible value in your real estate transactions.

While our transactional real estate work is geared toward minimizing difficulties for you in your purchase or sale of real estate, we understand that from time to time, real estate disputes do arise. In those cases, our knowledgeable and experienced attorneys are available to negotiate or litigate to resolve any contested issues.

Residential Real Estate

For most homeowners, a real estate purchase is the largest transaction in which they will ever take part. At the same time, most individuals will only participate in a few real estate transactions in their lifetime. It is essential to have the counsel of knowledgeable professionals who deal with such  transactions every day.

Whether you are buying or selling, there are usually a great many details that can be negotiated to improve the outcome of the transaction. Our attorneys know what to look for, understand what is negotiable, and work diligently to secure the best possible deal for you.

There for Your Real Estate Concerns

 Our attorneys can help with negotiations, transactional  documents and disputes concerning:

Commercial Real Estate

Commercial real estate often has special requirements and restrictions, and businesses seeking to acquire or sell commercial real estate do well to secure knowledgeable counsel for their transactions.

We are familiar with all aspects of commercial real estate transactions, from preparing a purchase offer to closing. We offer our clients in-depth understanding of the workings of both small-and large-scale commercial transactions, whether for unimproved land or an existing developed property.

In addition to assisting with negotiating transactions, securing financing, drafting contracts, and representing you at closing, we also offer legal support in post-closing matters such as development and construction, refinancing and leasing of the property.

Commercial Real Estate Guidance for:

• Collaborating with you to develop business strategies and objectives for real property
• Advising you on acquisition and development of real estate projects of all sizes
• Structuring property ownership and financing transactions with the use of business entities such as limited liability companies and partnerships
• Reviewing and analyzing contracts for construction, engineering and architectural services
• Due diligence reviews
• Refinancing and restructuring of non-performing financing obligations
• Negotiating and drafting development agreements and management
• Negotiating and drafting agreements with regard to easements and restrictive covenants
• Farm and agricultural property