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Practice Areas
Business and Commercial Law We provide a wide variety of services to our business clients from assisting in selecting the type of organizational entity under which to operate, preparation of agreements, sale and purchase of businesses, obtaining financing and funding for business operations, and employee relations, to dissolution. Elder Law Our firm specializes in the practice of Elder Law. Elder Law focuses not on any particular subject matter, but on the needs of senior citizens. It covers a broad range of overlapping and frequently interrelated legal issues including estate planning, tax planning, Medicare, Medicaid, public benefits, housing rights, asset preservation, limitations on the rights to make gifts to family members, guardianship, nursing home rights, discrimination and health care law. This is an area of great importance to senior citizens in which changes seem constant. Nearly half of all Americans who turn 65 years of age in any given year will spend some time in a nursing home. While a majority of nursing home admissions will be for a short term (less than a year), approximately one quarter will stay at least one year or more. Many people rightfully are worried about the costs. This is another area where good legal and financial counsel is crucial to peace of mind. Under many circumstances, gifts of money or a residence to children or family may create a period of Medicaid ineligibility. However, there are many legal ways to preserve family assets for a spouse and family members that will not cause Medicaid disqualification. Traditional estate plans consisted simply of a will and a power of attorney. Elders now frequently consider lifetime gifts of personal property or the transfer of real estate to loved ones, but fear that such gifts would disqualify them from Medicaid benefits. Asset preservation planning is even possible after a loved one enters a nursing home. Asset preservation planning can preserve tens of thousands of dollars for family and can minimize spousal impoverishment. Estate Planning Our firm handles Estate Planning matters which is the area dealing with the distribution of an individual's property at his or her death, taking into account wills, taxes, insurance, property, and trusts so as to gain maximum benefit of all laws and, at the same time, carrying out the person's wishes. Probate is the court proceeding through which a will is proved to be valid and the estate of a decedent is administered. The process, generally, includes collecting a decedent's assets, liquidating liabilities, paying necessary taxes, and distribution of property to heirs. Probate & Estate Administration Our firm specializes in Probate and Estate Administration. Probate is the legal process by which a person's debts are paid and assets are distributed upon her or his death. Lawyers refer to the entity that owns the deceased's assets until those assets are distributed as an "estate." 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. Real Estate Our firm represents both commercial clients and individuals in all proceedings and transactions that deal with real property-land and the structures attached to it-including purchase and sale, construction, mortgages and foreclosures, leases, zoning, title examinations, quiet title actions, closings, and management.
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