Connecticut Estate Planning Attorney

Custom Estate Planning Solutions Tailored Just for You.

Estate planning is one of the most important steps you can take to protect yourself, your assets and your loved ones from financial issues and disputes that may arise once you’re gone or if you’re no longer able to care for yourself and make your own decisions. We provide Title XIX (Medicaid) planning and assist with Medicaid Applications.

At The Law Office of Matthew P. Vaccarelli, we help men and women develop estate plans that are based on their specific individual needs and goals, offering a comprehensive array of tools and options for the most robust and effective solutions focused on keeping assets safe and secure for future needs and future generations.

We understand that every person’s estate planning needs are different, and we’re skilled in creating unique solutions that reflect your intentions, including wills, trusts, healthcare directives and living wills for peace of mind for you and for your loved ones.

Wills

Your will is a direct reflection of your wishes, providing legal documentation that will guide the distribution of your assets, provide guardianship for your children, and determine the future course of any business you may own. When a will is not properly drafted, it can fall far short of your expectations, even resulting in years of costly litigation for your loved ones after you’re gone. What’s more, if your will doesn’t adhere to your state’s laws, the will may be set aside and your assets distributed according to the law that’s in place.

Trusts

Like wills, trusts are legal documents that help determine how your assets will be handled and distributed once you’re gone. But unlike a will which can only become active once you’ve passed and the document has passed through the probate process, a trust is designed to avoid the often protracted and costly process of probate so your final wishes can be carried out immediately upon your passing. Trusts can also be used to spell out your wishes with regard to how your affairs are handled if you become incapacitated and you’re unable to make decisions on your own, and they can convey major tax advantages, both while you’re alive and for your heirs after your passing.

Living Wills

No one likes to think about becoming too injured or ill to make their own healthcare decisions, but sometimes, the unexpected happens. A living will lets you decide now what type of medical care you’ll receive if you become too ill or injured to make decisions on your own. Living wills are most commonly associated with orders about when and when not to resuscitate a person or whether or not to have life-prolonging care administered following a traumatic injury or illness. But they can also be used to spell out your wishes with regard to pain relief, administration of IV nutrition, use of feeding tubes, organ donation, and many other issues. Creating a living will require the guidance of a skilled Connecticut estate planning attorney to ensure you understand the implications of each decision you make to ensure your wishes are carried out in the manner you decide is best for your needs, rather than leaving those decisions to grieving loved ones.

Health Care Directives

Making decisions about health and healthcare is an incredibly important part of your life, based on your own highly personal preferences and experiences. But what would happen if you became ill – so ill that you could no longer make those health care decisions for yourself but needed to rely on someone else to make them for you? That’s how a healthcare directive can help. A health care directive is a legal document that determines who will make medical decisions for you if you become incapacitated and are unable to make those decisions for yourself.

With so much at stake, selecting an agent to carry out these decisions on your behalf isn’t always an easy process, and it’s certainly not something that should be left to chance or to the state or other governing agency. At The Law Office of Matthew P. Vaccarelli, we provide our clients with the individual, one-on-one time and attention they need to develop healthcare directives that accurately and completely reflect their decisions and their preferences to ensure healthcare options are carried out according to the client’s wishes.

Guardianships and Conservatorships

Like a will, both guardianships and conservatorships are created while all outside of the estate administration process while all parties are living. In Connecticut, guardianships can be initiated for two purposes: to provide directions and stipulations for the care of minor children or to provide for adults who are determined to be “intellectually disabled” and unable to fully care for themselves. Conservatorships are created to appoint a decision-maker for adults who are no longer able to make certain decisions for themselves, including healthcare and personal decisions (Conservator of Person) and financial decisions (Conservator of Estate). Our office is skilled in handling both the creation and presentation of the conservatorship documents and defending against conservatorship arrangements when those arrangements are opposed.

Deciding which documents you need to protect your loved ones and your assets isn’t always easy, but at The Law Office of Matthew P. Vaccarelli, we have the skills and experience to help you understand all your options so you can feel confident your wishes will be clearly defined and ultimately carried out as you intend.

If you have estate planning needs or you’d like to learn more about Connecticut estate planning  and the most appropriate options for your needs, contact us at 203-574-2400 and schedule a call or email us to set up a consultation today.