ESTATE PLANNING SERVICES

Hire Bozeman estate planning attorney Emma Buescher to establish and maintain your estate, prevent disagreements between family members, and avoid probate, which is costly litigation that determines the transfer of assets. The loss of a family member can be devastating, and determining how to handle the assets of a lost loved one can be one more burden during a difficult time.

Estate planning can be very personal, and Emma encourages clients to take the lead, while providing the legal guidance and parameters of what’s acceptable and incorporating the client’s decisions and preferences.

Emma offers these estate planning and elder law services to clients in Bozeman and across Montana:

  • Wills

  • Trusts

  • Power of Attorney

  • Estate Tax

  • Probate Administration

  • Guardianships

WILLS

Succession planning can seem complicated when you don’t know how to begin the process. To prepare for having your will drafted, you will want to identify all your assets as anything important to you that you want to be given to an individual. This list of personal items could include bank accounts, property, jewelry, artwork, and coin collections. If you have this list ready and you have thought about who to leave it to, contact Emma to schedule your appointment and know your family and assets will be taken care of in the way you would like.

TRUSTS

If you have a will, you may want to establish a living trust for all of your property. This allows property to be automatically placed, avoiding probate. Creating a living trust is helpful in the estate planning process because it places all of your assets into the trust while you are living so the recipients of your will can avoid court for formal probate.

POWER OF ATTORNEY

There are two versions of power of attorney:

  1. financial power of attorney and

  2. medical power of attorney.

Montana law allows for power of attorney to act on behalf of another person in instances where that person is unable to make decisions due to medical or other reasons.

Medical power of attorney allows a selected individual to make medical decisions for another who a physician has determined to be incapacitated or incompetent. As your estate attorney, Emma talks with you about which powers you need to identify in your power of attorney form, such as the power to give, refuse, or withdraw consent to any care treatment, service or procedure to maintain, diagnose, or treat a physical or mental condition. Before meeting with your estate attorney, it is recommended that you select both a successor and an alternative agent.

Financial power of attorney, or durable power of attorney, grants a person the right to make financial decisions and act on financial matters on another’s behalf. You can select certain powers such as real property, tangible property, and banking and business operating transactions. You can also select the person who has power to handle transactions relating to benefits from social security, Medicare, Medicaid, or other government programs as well as retirement plan transactions and tax matters. As with medical power of attorney, you will want to select a successor and alternative agent.