Estate Planning
Wills, trusts and directives that keep decisions in your family's hands and out of probate court where possible.
Overview
A good estate plan answers three questions clearly: who makes decisions if you cannot, who receives what and when, and how to keep the transfer private and affordable. We draft plans for young families, business owners, blended families and retirees, and we explain every document in a signing meeting rather than mailing a stack of paper.
Connecticut has its own estate tax, with an exemption that tracks the federal figure, and its own probate court system. We plan for both, coordinate beneficiary designations on retirement accounts and life insurance, and review your plan whenever tax law or your family changes.
What's included
Scope is confirmed in your engagement letter. These are the pieces most clients need.
- Last will and testament with guardianship nominations
- Revocable living trust and funding instructions
- Durable financial power of attorney
- Health care representative appointment and living will
- Beneficiary designation review for retirement accounts and insurance
- Signing ceremony with witnesses and notary at our office or your home
How we work through it
- 1
Family and asset interview
A relaxed conversation about the people you care for and what you own, including business interests.
- 2
Design letter
A plain-English summary of the plan we recommend, with a flat fee before any drafting begins.
- 3
Draft review
We meet to walk through drafts and adjust anything that does not reflect your wishes.
- 4
Signing and funding
We supervise execution, then help retitle accounts and real estate into your trust.
Why clients choose us for estate planning
Less time in probate
A funded trust can move most assets to heirs in weeks rather than many months.
Privacy for your family
Trust terms stay out of the public probate file.
Clear decision-makers
The people you choose, not a court, handle finances and medical decisions if you are incapacitated.
Tax-aware structure
Plans account for Connecticut's state estate and gift tax as well as federal rules.
Fees and what affects them
Sample ranges for illustration. Your written estimate depends on the facts, number of parties and deadlines involved.
Attorneys who lead this work
Private client tool
Build your document set
Tick what is true for your family. The list on the right is the set of instruments we would expect to draft, with the reason each one exists. It is a starting agenda for a first meeting, not advice about your situation.
Your document set
5 documents
Last will and testament Core
Names your executor, directs what is left after non-probate assets pass, and nominates guardians.
Why: Without one, Connecticut's intestacy statute decides who inherits and the probate court picks the fiduciary.
Durable power of attorney Core
Appoints an agent for financial and legal decisions under the Connecticut Uniform Power of Attorney Act.
Why: Without it, a conservatorship application is the only route to manage your accounts if you lose capacity.
Appointment of health care representative Core
Names the person who speaks to clinicians and consents to or refuses treatment for you.
Why: Hospitals need a named representative. A spouse is not automatically one for every decision.
Living will Core
Your written direction on life support and artificial nutrition if you are permanently unconscious or terminally ill.
Why: It takes the hardest decision off the shoulders of the person you appointed.
Beneficiary designation review Core
A pass over every retirement account, annuity and life policy, with primary and contingent beneficiaries confirmed.
Why: Designations override your will. This is the single most common reason a careful plan pays the wrong person.
Guardian nomination for minor children
Names who raises your children and, separately, who manages money for them until an age you choose.
Why: The best carer and the best money manager are often different people. Naming both avoids a contested hearing.
Trust for minor beneficiaries
Holds a child's share with staged distributions instead of an outright transfer at eighteen.
Why: Otherwise a minor's inheritance is handed over the day they turn eighteen, in full.
Revocable living trust
A trust you control during life that holds title to assets and distributes them privately at death.
Why: It keeps terms out of the public probate file and lets a successor trustee act without a court appointment.
Pour-over will
A short will that catches anything never retitled and sends it into your trust.
Why: A trust only governs what it owns. The pour-over will is the safety net for the asset you forgot.
Deed transferring Connecticut real estate into the trust
A quitclaim deed recorded in the town land records, with the lender and title insurer notified.
Why: An unfunded trust does nothing. The home is the asset clients most often forget to retitle.
Ancillary probate avoidance for out-of-state property
Retitling the out-of-state parcel into the trust, or into a holding entity the trust owns.
Why: Property in another state otherwise triggers a second probate proceeding in that state's court.
Supplemental needs trust
A third-party trust holding the beneficiary's share with a trustee who pays for extras, not for basics.
Why: An outright gift can disqualify a beneficiary from needs-based benefits until it is spent down.
Marital and family trust structure
Separate shares so a surviving spouse is provided for while the remainder is preserved for named children.
Why: In a blended family, leaving everything outright to the survivor leaves the children's share to that survivor's plan.
Business succession rider and buy-sell alignment
Confirms your will and trust do not conflict with the operating or shareholder agreement already in force.
Why: A buy-sell agreement generally controls the interest regardless of what your will says. They have to agree.
Retirement account beneficiary trust review
Confirms whether a trust should be named beneficiary and whether it qualifies as a see-through trust.
Why: Naming the wrong trust can compress the payout period and accelerate income tax for your heirs.
Trust funding letter and asset schedule
A written instruction list for banks, brokerages and transfer agents, with a schedule of what the trust holds.
Why: Funding is where plans fail. The letter turns a signed trust into a working one.
Every plan we draft also includes a signing ceremony with witnesses and a notary, and an annual review letter. Estate planning is personal: this list is general information for a demo website and is not legal advice.
Tax thresholds and formalities change. Connecticut's estate and gift tax exemption has tracked the federal basic exclusion amount, and execution formalities, the Uniform Power of Attorney Act and retirement account payout rules have all been amended in recent years. Confirm current figures and requirements with us before planning around any number you read.
Estate Planning questions
A will works well for many families, particularly where assets are modest and pass by beneficiary designation. A revocable trust makes sense when you own real estate in more than one state, want privacy, have minor or vulnerable beneficiaries, or want to reduce probate administration.
Yes. Connecticut taxes estates above its exemption amount, which currently follows the federal basic exclusion. It is also the only state with a gift tax, so large lifetime gifts need planning.
Review it every three to five years and after any birth, death, marriage, divorce, move or sale of a business. Clients on our annual check-in list receive a reminder and a short call at no charge.
Yes. We regularly hold signings at homes, hospitals and assisted living facilities in Hartford, Tolland and New Haven counties.
Related practice areas
Discuss your estate planning matter
A 45-minute first meeting with a written summary and a clear fee estimate. Same-day callbacks, Monday to Friday.