Estate Planning

Estate planning involves providing protection to the client, client’s family, and the client’s resources. We accomplish these goals by various means including, but not limited to, the preparation of many types of documents, including wills, trusts, durable powers of attorney, and even business succession vehicles where necessary. The goal is to protect the client’s family and resources from injury due to the client’s beneficiaries’ limitations (age, lack of maturity, disability, inability to manage assets, etc.) or due to the involvement of public entities (Probate Court, governmental taxing authorities). Our attorneys will assist the client in establishing their estate plan by counseling them of the consequences of their planning decision on their family or finances and will discuss the approach the client believes will best suit their interests. Every adult, regardless of their current financial or family situation, needs some type of estate plan that may include at least one of the documents listed above.

Conservatorship

A conservatorship is typically established for an incapacitated individual who does not have any estate planning. Our attorneys can also prepare estate plans that assist in protecting the conservator and the conservatee’s resources.

Probate

Probate is the administration of a deceased person’s estate when the decedent died without an estate plan or with a Last Will and Testament. Our attorneys will assist with all legal filings and will advise the administrator or executor of the estate on post-mortem business, tax, and estate planning matters. Persons named as executors or administrators of an estate or, where no one has been named, persons who are descendants of the deceased person could benefit from the probate expertise of the attorneys at Matsen Voorhees LLP. Probate proceedings assisted by our law firm involve the transfer of the deceased person’s assets without formal court proceedings when possible.

Trust Administration

Matsen Voorhees LLP attorneys are equipped to assist successor trustees in navigating the process of administering a trust after the settlor’s death or incapacity. We will help the trustee to fulfill several legal requirements, will guide the trustee through the administrative process, and will advise the trustee on income and estate tax issues and in preparing estate tax returns. The goal is to provide the trustee with the maximum amount of protection from both public and private interests. Administering a trust can be difficult and confusing. Anyone who is currently administering a trust or who will someday be responsible for the administration of a trust could benefit from our expertise.

Tax Planning

Tax planning is used to minimize the client’s income and estate tax consequences for their estates through the use of business entities, trusts, and other tax strategies and is essential for those who believe they are subjected to too much tax.

Business Formations

The attorneys at Matsen Voorhees LLP. can assist clients in the establishment of business entities by counseling the client on the type of entity that will satisfy the client’s objectives, by preparing and filing the necessary documents to ensure that the entity has been established as required by law, and by maintaining ongoing business counsel relations with the client after the entity is established. We would be happy to assist anyone establishing a new business or managing a current business that needs representation due to legal, tax, or corporate governance matters.