Few activities are more important, yet more intimidating, than planning for your own long-term security and the continued well-being of your loved ones. The complexities of estate laws can lead many people to put off this crucial task until it’s too late, but with competent legal help you can lay a solid foundation for protecting your independence and preserving your family's financial future.

As an experienced Estate Planning Attorney with 30+ years of experience, I provide solid legal guidance to individuals, business owners, families and retirees in the following practice areas in Western North Carolina area, including Asheville, Franklin, Hayesville, Murphy, Sylva and Waynesville:

• Estate Planning
• Estate Administration
• Elder Law
• Trusts and Tax Planning
• Real Estate
• Asset Protection Planning
• Business Planning
• Corporations
• Charitable Trusts
• Family Limited Partnerships
• Limited Liability Companies
• Living Trusts
• Medicaid Planning
  
• Wills
• Guardianships/ Powers of Attorney
• Medical Directives
• Probate
  
• Special Needs Trusts
• Testamentary Trusts
• Will Contest Litigation
• Estate Litigation

Keep in mind that one size does not fit all when it comes to estate planning. To meet your specific goals, you should be represented by an estate planning lawyer who will be sensitive to your objectives and who is experienced in trusts, estates, taxation, contested wills, probate and guardianship cases. I never forget the importance of the human aspect of estate administration, and provide considerate attention at a time that is often difficult for many clients.

I tailor my practice to providing comprehensive, affordable estate planning solutions. I am experienced in using numerous tools to help clients meet their unique planning goals, including, but not limited to:

• Living Trusts can be used to hold legal title to and provide a mechanism to manage your property. You can select a person or persons – even yourself – as the Trustee(s) to carry out the instructions in the Trust and name one or more Successor Trustees. Unlike a Will, a Trust usually becomes effective immediately, continues in force during your lifetime even in the event of your incapacity, and continues after your death. Most Trusts are revocable which allows the person who creates the Trust to make future changes, modifications and even to terminate it. Trusts also help you avoid or minimize the expenses, delays and publicity of probate, if your assets are properly titled.
  
  
• Wills, also called a Last Will and Testament, transfer property you hold in your name to the person(s) and/or organization(s) you want to receive it. A Will also typically names someone you select to be your Personal Representative (Executor) to carry out your instructions and names a Guardian if you have minor children. A Will only becomes effective upon your death, and after it is admitted to probate.  Assets or property passing under a Will must go through probate.
  
  
• A Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care appoints a person you designate to make decisions regarding your health care treatment in the event that you are unable to make your own decisions.
  
  
• A Living Will is an Advance Directive which gives doctors and hospitals your instructions regarding the nature and extent of the care you want should you suffer a terminal and incurable condition or a persistent vegetative state.
  
  
• Our Probate/Estate Administration services provides legal guidance after a family member has passed away.  I handle probate and administration proceedings, estate taxes and estate accountings. When probate is contested, I can handle the resulting litigation as well. I will make sure that your rights are represented in probate court to the maximum extent.
  
  
• A Durable Power of Attorney for property and financial matters, appoints a person that you designate to act for you and handle financial matters should you be unable or perhaps unavailable to do so.
  
  
• Family Limited Partnerships can be used to own and manage your property, but allowing additional tax planning techniques to be employed. Family Limited Partnerships are typically used for those who have large estates and thus have a need for specialized estate planning in order to minimize taxes as well as provide asset protection.

With new laws being passed on a regular basis, the guidance of an experienced Estate Planning Attorney is critical in assuring that your unique estate planning goals are understood and carried out. Proper estate planning can ensure that your estate is not wasted, and that your loved ones are cared for according to your wishes. Avoiding probate costs, expensive court proceedings and unnecessary taxes are important elements in preserving the integrity of your estate.

If you or someone you know in North Carolina needs the assistance of an experienced Estate Planning Attorney, call Larry J. Ford today at 866-767-3024, or complete the contact form provided on this site to schedule your initial consultation by phone or in person. Our office serves clients through-out Western North Carolina, including Asheville, Franklin, Hayesville, Murphy, Sylva, and Waynesville.

Estate Planning:
Good estate planning is more than just a simple Will. It minimizes potential taxes and fees (including Federal and State gift and estate taxes), and sets up contingency planning to make sure your wishes regarding health care treatment are followed before and after death. A good estate plan also coordinates what happens to your home, investments, business, life insurance, employee benefits (such as a 401K plan) and other property in the event of disability or death.

Trusts:
Trusts are estate-planning tools that can replace or supplement Wills and can also help manage property during life. Maintaining assets in a trust often makes it easier to minimize taxes and leave a larger inheritance.  A trust is also a way to provide a steady income to the Beneficiary over time (as opposed to distribution in a lump sum), thus reducing the Beneficiary's tax burden, allowing the Trust to grow through investment, and keeping assets free from creditors of the Trust beneficiary. Trusts can also be established for the benefit of charitable organizations.

Probate:
Probate is the legal process of settling debts and transferring property following a person's death.  Although probate law has changed over time, the purpose has remained much the same: a decedent's property is collected, debts are paid from the estate, and the property is distributed according to the decedent's Will or, if there is no Will, by state law.

Elder Law:
Aging clients and their families face troubling issues when confronted with the possibility of financing long-term care for themselves or for their loved ones. As people live longer and longer due to overall advances in medicine, the likelihood that a family member will require nursing home care or significant and costly assistance at home increases. Fortunately, sophisticated planning strategies can be employed and the proper use of these strategies can help preserve financial resources for the community spouse and future generations, and to insure proper health care decisions.

Wills:
A Will is a written instrument containing directions on how the assets and property of the testator (individual creating the Will) shall be divided upon his or her death.  Wills can also contain instructions regarding the care of minor children, gifts to charity and formation of testamentary trusts.  In order for a Will to be legally valid, the testator must sign the Will in the presence of two witnesses and he or she must be mentally competent and not acting under duress or under the controlling influence of another.

Will Contest Litigation:
A Will Contest is a type of litigation that challenges the admission of a Will to probate or its validity.  Issues that are likely to create a  will contest include: 

• the testator lacked mental capacity, e.g., was senile,  or of unsound mind at the time the will was signed;
• the testator was subjected to fraud, coercion or undue influence during the Will's creation;
• the Will is a forgery or does not conform to legal requirements as to the number and qualification of the witnesses.

If a Will contest is successful,  the court, depending on state law and the specific facts and circumstances may throw out the entire Will, distributing the property as if the person died without a Will or use the last previous Will.

Probating Estates:
Estates are categorized as probate or non-probate property.  Probate property is property that passes through the estate.  Non-probate property is property that is either jointly held and passes by right of survivorship, is directed by a beneficiary designation, e.g., an IRA or a life insurance policy, or was titled to a trust at the decedent's death.

Powers of Attorney:
Powers of Attorney are governed by the law of agency, a branch of common law concerned with the delegation of power from one person (the principal) to another (attorney-in-fact or agent).  When a person becomes incapacitated, the government or the court often steps in and appoints someone to represent and make legal decisions for the incapacitated person.  One of the ways to avoid government or court intervention and the appointment of a stranger to act as your guardian, is to use a Power of Attorney.  A Power of Attorney is a written document that can be limited in scope, or it can allow one person to give another the full power and authority to represent him or her.  There are two types of Power of Attorneys; one covering assets and one covering health care decisions.

Estate Litigation:
Estate litigation is a legal dispute usually initiated by someone who feels they did not receive all they were entitled to in a Will.  Wills can be challenged if it is suspected that the Will is not legally valid or if the person who was writing the Will was wrongly influenced while creating it.  Estate litigation can also arise from provisions of a Will that are poorly drafted, confusing, or vague.

Guardianship:
A guardianship is a legal relationship created by a court between a guardian and his ward, either a minor child or an incapacitated adult.  The guardian has a legal right and duty to care for the ward.  This may involve making personal decisions on his or her behalf, managing property or both.  Usually, a person is appointed as guardian because the ward is incapable of caring for his or her own interests due to infancy, incapacity, or disability.

Courts generally have the power to appoint a guardian for an individual in need of special protection.  There are different types of guardians that can be appointed.  A guardian with responsibility for both the personal well-being and the financial interests of the ward is a general guardian.  A person may be appointed as a guardian of the person, having limited powers over the interests of the ward.  A guardian appointed to represent the interests of a person with respect to a single action in litigation is a guardian ad litem.

Estate Tax Returns:
The money and property you own when you die (your estate) may be subject to federal estate tax if the total amount exceeds the Exemption.  Most estates are not subject to the tax.  Only about 2% of all estates are subject to the estate tax.  An estate tax return generally will not be needed unless the estate is worth more than the applicable exclusion amount for the year of death.  The estate tax is technically a tax on the value of these estate itself, less certain exemptions and deductions. 

Estate taxes are different from, and in addition to, probate expenses and final income taxes owed on income of the decedent earned in the year of his or her death.  They also are separate from inheritance taxes that are collected by some states on  the transfer of the decedent's property to others.

Most states impose their own estate taxes, usually as a "sponge tax" that piggybacks on the federal estate tax. 

Private Annuity Trusts & Charitable Trusts:
In a private annuity trust, an owner transfers property to an irrevocable trust in exchange for a promise to make prescribed payments to the owner for his or her lifetime.  The trust can sell the property to a third party, the proceeds of which are invested to provide the payments promised to the owner.  On death, the remainder of the trust estate typically passes to the heirs of the property owner.  The trustee must be someone other than the property owner.

A charitable trust is somewhat similar to a private annuity trust, except that the owner transfers property to an irrevocable trust of which one or more charitable organizations will be beneficiaries.  The type of charitable trust most likely to be used is a charitable remainder trust, in which the owner retains an income interest for his or her lifetime.  The property can be sold by the trustee and the proceeds invested to provide the payments to the owner.  On death or after a specified term of years, the remainder of the trust estate passes to one or more designated charitable organizations.  Unlike a private annuity trust, the trustee can be the property owner.

If you or someone you know in North Carolina needs the assistance of an experienced Estate Planning Attorney, call Larry J. Ford today at 866-767-3024, or complete the contact form provided on this site to schedule your initial consultation. Serving Asheville, Franklin, Hayesville, Murphy, Sylva, and Waynesville.

If you or someone you know in North Carolina needs the assistance of an experienced Estate Planning Attorney, call Larry J. Ford today at 866-767-3024, or complete the contact form provided on this site to schedule your initial consultation.

ADDRESS OF THE FIRM:
Larry J. Ford, Attorney at Law
46 Church Street, Suite 22
Hayesville, NC 28904-0750
Telephone: 866-767-3024
Fax: 866-837-4526

MEMBERS OF THE FIRM:

Larry J. Ford
Larry J. Ford is an attorney whose practice concentrates on Estate and Medicaid Planning and related legal matters on behalf of clients and charitable organizations throughout Western North Carolina and North Georgia. During his 30 years of professional experience, he has advised clients in many areas of importance to older adults, including Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Medicaid Planning, Personal Health Care & Retirement Planning, Real Estate Law, Tax Planning, and Trusts & Wills.

Ford's current practice includes extensive work in Asset Protection, Business Planning, Buy-Sell Agreements, Corporations, Charitable Trusts, Estate Planning, Life Insurance Trusts, Limited Liability Companies, Living Trusts, Family Limited Partnerships, Medicaid Planning, Probate Avoidance Planning, and Federal Estate and Gift Tax Planning.

A native of Clay County, NC, and a magna cum laude graduate of Western Carolina University, he attended the University of North Carolina School of Law, where he was awarded the Albert Ellis Fellowship by the UNC Law Alumni Foundation during all three years of study. Ford received the Juris Doctor degree and was admitted to the North Carolina State Bar in 1976.

After law school, Ford practiced in Hendersonville, NC, from 1976 to 1983. His areas of practice included business, civil litigation, real estate, wills & estates.

After relocating to Charlotte in 1983, Ford's professional interests and positions included serving as Vice President/Legal Counsel with a title insurance company, and as consultant to investment advisory firms, real estate and retirement housing developers, and individual clients.

While in Charlotte, Ford teamed with IPS Asset Management, a Registered Investment Advisory firm, to develop and present a series of estate and retirement planning seminars for corporate executives for companies such as Duke Power.

He returned to Western North Carolina in 1991 in order to provide estate planning, Medicaid Planning, retirement planning, and related services in Western North Carolina and North Georgia.

Ford is a member of the North Carolina State Bar, and the North Carolina Medicaid Practice Network. Ford is also a member of the Medicaid Practice Systems, LLC, a nationwide organization of estate planning attorneys in the U.S. who focus on Asset Protection and Medicaid Planning, as well as traditional Estate Planning, Estate & Gift Tax Planning, and Trusts.

In addition to conducting numerous seminars for various consumer, charitable, educational, and professional groups, Ford has authored "The Complete Estate Planning Workbook," a consumer guide to estate planning for North Carolina residents, and "The Legal Advisor,” a weekly newspaper column on estate planning and related legal matters.

In 1995, Ford was selected by the National Business Institute, a national publisher and sponsor of professional continuing education programs, as co-presenter of a continuing education course on estate planning for attorneys, CPAs, and life insurance agents. He also co-authored Estate Planning with the Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust in North Carolina, a course book published by National Business Institute.  Additionally, he has presented continuing legal education programs for attorneys for such organizations as the Mid-South Estate Planning Forum.

Ford's hobbies include aviation and ham radio. In his civic activities, he is a past-President and Board Member of the Clay County Chamber of Commerce, and is a past-Chairman and current Board Member of the Clay County Travel & Tourism Board.