Castlefield Attorneys is experienced in helping clients protect their legacy through careful estate planning. We can help you arrange your affairs so that your wishes are expressed and carried out.

You can make your own choices in matters affecting your life and eventual death. Estate planning is not only arranging what you want to happen after your death. It is also planning for the possibility that you may need assistance during your lifetime due to an illness, injury, or disability and encompasses all areas of your life: health care, personal care, legal affairs and financial affairs. A well-prepared plan will protect you and your family by allowing you to appoint people you trust to help make decisions regarding your private and personal matters should you no longer be able to do so for yourself and will ease the burden on those closest to you.

We are committed to the protection of our clients and their assets. We work with you to prepare health care directives designed according to your specific wishes and detailed powers of attorney, giving maximum or limited powers to assure that you can be taken care of as the need arises. We draft Wills and various necessary trusts to not only enable you to provide for your loved ones, but also to protect them from too much wealth too soon and to allow their money to be distributed for a college education or towards their first home.

We know that Estate Planning is often something we put off. There are big decisions to make and you may envision the process as being time consuming and unpleasant. While thinking about some of the issues involved can sometimes be difficult, working with a lawyer who understands and streamlines the process, will help you look to the future with confidence.

Probate is the legal process by which a person’s debts are paid and assets are distributed upon her or his death. Estate Administration includes the probate process as well as non-probate transfers of the deceased’s assets. Individual state laws direct the probate court how to distribute the deceased’s estate. State laws and procedures vary greatly, so, it is important to consult a firm with expertise in this area of the law to ensure that the deceased’s assets are distributed correctly.

Estate and probate attorneys at Castlefield Attorneys handle the many legal, financial and administrative steps that follow the death of a loved one. We represent clients in all matters of estate and trust administration, including litigation and contested estates.

Probate is the legal process in which a court supervises how assets are distributed after someone dies. The goal is to make sure all debts, taxes and other claims owed by the person are paid by his or her estate. Remaining assets are then distributed to heirs or will beneficiaries. The process can be especially complicated if assets are left to a minor or if someone does not create a will before he or she dies. In those cases, State law carefully controls the distribution of assets.

Probate and other difficulties encountered when a loved one dies can often be avoided through careful planning and the drafting of a will or creation of a trust.

Our attorneys have decades of experience establishing, managing and administering trusts. By placing assets into a trust, clients can control how and when their assets will be distributed upon death, and can side-step the court system in doing so. The costs involved in drafting a will or trust document are small in comparison to the costs of trying to resolve a problem after someone has passed.

If a loved one dies without properly drafting a will or funding a trust, our attorneys can counsel clients about post-mortem planning techniques that may remedy the situation or create more favorable tax consequences for surviving family members.

Castlefield Attorneys also offers extensive tax and wealth management services so that clients can manage all of their financial legal needs under one roof.