New Hampshire & Maine Elder Law, Estate Planning, Wills, Trust &
Wills Attorneys
Serving Clients Throughout New Hampshire & Maine
At
Shaheen & Gordon, P.A., our experienced estate planning lawyers and staff are available to help
you sort out your estate planning or probate issues and figure out the
best plan for you. The attorneys and staff in the estate and probate law
group at Shaheen & Gordon, P.A. have experience and expertise in all
aspects of elder law, estate planning, and probate practice in New Hampshire
and Maine.
At Shaheen & Gordon, P.A., our attorneys and staff are dedicated to
working with individuals and families to achieve the goals of asset protection,
probate avoidance, estate tax savings, and family business succession.
Our services include estate planning and estate and trust administration,
creation of both revocable and irrevocable trusts, Medicaid planning,
and postmortem planning. We prepare wills, durable powers of attorney,
durable powers of attorney for
health care, and living wills. We represent clients in
guardianship and probate proceedings. We tailor our services to your needs from basic to more complex
estate planning.
Estate Planning FAQ
We are often asked the following questions by prospective clients who find
themselves in unfamiliar territory as they contemplate working with us:
What is asset protection?
Asset protection is a means of ensuring that your assets are preserved
for your benefit during your lifetime, and ultimately transferred to your
family members and others you care about. We help you to achieve this
goal through setting up simple and more complex trust arrangements, avoiding
probate, and minimizing inheritance taxes.
What is
Medicaid Planning?
Medicaid planning is a form of asset protection planning focused specifically
on ensuring the maximum possible preservation of your assets in the event
you or your spouse needs nursing home care.
What is family
business succession?
Family owned businesses face unique problems due to the complexities of
family relationships. Frequently, a family owned business is an estate’s
most valuable asset. Our business and estate planning attorneys work together
with families to ensure that a business can continue after the first generation
through careful planning.
Does everyone need a
will?
If you want to insure that the people you care about inherit your assets,
then you should have a will. Otherwise, the government creates an estate
plan, called intestacy, for you. People you care about may not inherit
your assets under the government created estate plan.
What is a
durable power of attorney?
A durable power of attorney allows you to choose someone to manage your
assets and pay your bills in the event of your disability or incapacity.
Otherwise, if you become disabled or incapacitated, someone will have
to petition a court to obtain the power to provide these services for
you, known as a guardianship.
What are durable powers of attorney for health care and
living wills?
A durable power of attorney for health care allows you to retain control
over your own medical care during periods of incapacity through the prior
designation of an individual to make health care decisions. A living will
allows you to direct what measures will or will not be used to prolong
your life in circumstances where there is no hope for recovery.