Estate Planning

People prepare estate plans for many reasons, but if you are like most clients, you are concerned that:

• The IRS will "inherit" a big chunk of your estate after you die,
   
• After your death, there will be unnecessary costs and delays affecting your family because your estate must pass through probate,
   
• Unwanted measures will be used to prolong your life in the hospital if you are unable to communicate your health care wishes,
   
• You will lose control of your assets if you become disabled,
   
• A child will lose most of their inheritance to a divorcing spouse, creditor or unjustified lawsuit, and
   
• A child will waste their inheritance because of financial immaturity.

These are the concerns most often voiced by clients of NorthEast Estates and Trusts, PLLC (NEET). Attorney Adam Bartsch has solutions for people like you who are kept awake at night worrying about these problems. Adam can help you by creating an estate plan for you and your family that removes the burden of uncertainty from your shoulders. You probably realize that you need an estate plan, but haven't gotten around to it yet. Now is a good time to plan, because if you become incapacitated or die unexpectedly, it's too late and your family will face unnecessary costs and delays in wrapping up your estate.

NEET is a Shelburne, Vermont law firm focused solely on creating estate plans for residents of Vermont, New York and Massachusetts. Formed in 2004, NEET's legal services include:

Foundational and Advanced Estate Planning. The firm drafts simple wills, three levels of revocable living trust portfolios, and advanced irrevocable trusts. NEET documents reflect the most recent tax laws, and just as importantly, include a high degree of flexibility to handle the unexpected. NEET offers clients a fixed fee so that you know the final cost of your estate plan before you agree to move forward. A fixed fee also means that you can set up as many appointments, or make as many phone calls, as you like to ensure you fully understand your estate plan, without being nickel and dimed every time you contact the firm.

• Incapacity Planning. All NEET estate plans include state specific Advance Directives (living wills), Powers of Attorney for Finances, and HIPAA Releases, among other important ancillary documents.
   
• NEET Trust Maintenance Program. NEET’s Trust Maintenance Program ensures that revocable living trusts remain fully funded, that your chosen fiduciaries are still the best persons for the job, that allocation and distribution provisions of your estate plan reflect your current wishes, that powers of attorney remain fresh, and that your trust is up to date with current laws. Most estate plans become obsolete over time, because tax laws change, clients’ family situations change, and the options available through estate planning change. Through an annual document review, and annual personal meeting with Adam, NEET ensures that your plan will be up to date when it is needed.

Trust Administration and Probate Administration. NEET assists clients with probate matters and trust administration matters before the courts and by teaming up with local CPAs and financial professionals.

Asset Protection and Wealth Preservation. NEET works with clients to identify where liabilities might exist, and the legal options for reducing or eliminating such liabilities. Adam also incorporates asset protection into basic and advanced estate plans to protect your children’s inheritance from divorcing spouses, creditors, and bankruptcy.

Because estate planning can be complicated, this website aims to give you a general understanding of various estate planning concepts, including estate taxes, wills, trusts, advanced planning, asset protection, probate administration and trust administration, among many others. Please see the Disclaimer Page for more information.

Would you prefer to come in immediately to discuss your particular situation? Then download and complete the appropriate Initial Consultation form on the Forms Page and call Adam at (802) 985-8811 to schedule a free initial consultation.

Do you have questions about working with an estate planning attorney? Find answers to clients' frequently asked questions on the About NEET Page.

If you would like to learn more about various estate planning topics, visit the NEET Articles Page, which lists more than 60 published articles written by Adam.

The NEET Estate Planning Process

NEET’s estate planning process is flexible to accommodate your needs, but typically includes the following steps:

Step One: Download the proper initial questionnarie from the Forms Page, or call and request a NEET Initial Questionnaire, then schedule a free initial consultation with Adam. The initial consultation usually lasts 1-2 hours and is your chance to ask any estate planning questions you have. During the meeting you will receive advice as to what estate planning options make the most sense for you. At the end of the meeting, you will be quoted a set fee. You can decide then, or at a later date, if you wish to move forward.

Step Two: If you decide to proceed, Adam will provide you a second questionnaire for either a will-based or trust-based estate plan. Additionally, Adam will prepare a retainer agreement detailing what services NEET will complete for you and the agreed upon price so that there is no disagreement as to what is being accomplished and what the fee is.

Step Three: Upon return of the questionnaire and retainer agreement, Adam prepares the draft estate plan and forwards the draft to you. At that point, you may wish to come in and review the draft documents in person or review the documents at home. Once approved by you, the draft documents are finalized and a signing date is scheduled.

Step Four: At the document signing meeting, all of the estate planning documents are signed, and for trust-based plans, most of the trust funding documentation is completed. Unlike many other Vermont attorneys, retitling assets into your trust is included in NEET’s set fee and is performed by Adam. This ensures that your trust is properly and timely funded.

Step Five: The signed estate plan documents are scanned into NEET’s computers and the original documents, with PDF copies on compact disks, are returned to you. Miscellaneous funding and other matters may be wrapped up in the weeks following the document signing meeting.

Step Six: One year following the signing meeting we meet to: (1) discuss your estate plan, (2) review your list of assets and determine if any further funding of trust assets is necessary, (3) revisit the principal estate planning provisions to ensure you understand how the trust works, and (4) make minor amendments as needed.

If you join NEET’s Trust Maintenance Program, we will meet annually to:

• Review your estate plan documents,
• Make amendments as necessary,
• Confirm funding remains up to date, and
• Discuss the status of estate planning laws and regulations.
• Most importantly, every four years we will restate (completely redraft) your documents to ensure your documents remain current with existing laws and correctly reflect your estate planning wishes.

At every step along the way, you are encouraged to ask questions in order to fully understand your available options, and to understand how your estate planning documents work. Because Adam works on a set fee basis, there is no financial disincentive to contacting him as frequently as you wish.