Securing Your Legacy
Although a basic estate plan includes a Will, a Power of Attorney, and an Advance Health Care Directive, true estate planning is far more than just drafting a simple will. It is a comprehensive strategy designed to give you control over your assets while you are alive, and ensure they are protected and distributed exactly as you wish after you are gone.
With over 30 years of experience and an advanced degree (LL.M.) in Taxation, Attorney Vincent Liberti provides high-level planning for individuals, fiduciaries, and family-owned businesses. He designs customized structures that minimize taxes, avoid probate, and protect your beneficiaries from creditors and litigation.
Core Trust & Tax Strategies
Revocable Living Trusts
Maintain total control over your assets during your lifetime while ensuring a seamless, private transition of wealth that avoids the public probate process.
Irrevocable Trusts
Advanced asset protection vehicles designed to shield your legacy from creditors, lawsuits, and estate taxes across multiple generations.
Business Succession
Strategic planning for family-owned and closely-held businesses to ensure smooth transitions, operational continuity, and tax efficiency.
Tax Mitigation
Leveraging lifetime gifting, charitable trusts, and specialized planning tools to minimize federal and state estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer taxes.
Powers of Attorney & Medical Directives
Incapacity planning is the cornerstone of a complete estate plan. Without properly executed documents, your family will be forced into a public, expensive, and stressful Probate Court proceeding just to manage your daily life and finances. By signing these documents now, you retain private control over who speaks for you.
Financial Power of Attorney
Allows a trusted Agent, whom you appoint, to handle your finances, real estate, banking and more. We utilize Durable POAs, meaning they remain valid even if you become medically incompetent.
Note: A POA’s authority dies with you. The moment you pass, your agent’s control ceases and you are subject to the slow probate processes to admit your Will and appoint your Executor. Until then no one controls your assets and finances despite weather, market declines, foreclosure actions, etc. However, consider revocable trusts.
Medical Directives
- Healthcare Agent: Makes medical decisions if you are unable to communicate.
- Living Will: Strict legal instructions regarding life support in a terminal condition.
- HIPAA Waiver: Legally permits doctors to share critical medical updates with your agent.
Prenuptial Agreements
Asset Protection before the "I Do."
A prenuptial agreement is not just divorce planning; it is a vital tool for protecting family wealth, business interests, and defining what happens upon both divorce and death. Without a prenuptial agreement, state marital laws can easily override your carefully crafted estate plan.
⚠️ The 401(k) Trap
Federal law grants your spouse an automatic right to your 401(k), regardless of who you named as a beneficiary. A prenup is a common way to waive this right.
🏠 The "Life Estate" Strategy
In blended families, a common theme for clients choosing prenuptial agreements before remarrying, we can structure agreements so a surviving spouse can live in the marital home for a term or life (with conditions), but the equity ultimately passes to your children/family.
Strict Legal Requirements
To be enforceable, prenups require Separate Counsel (each party must have their own lawyer), Full Disclosure (hiding assets invalidates the agreement), and proper Timing (it must be signed well before the wedding to avoid claims of duress).
The Academic Advantage
As an Adjunct Professor of Law teaching Estate Planning to other attorneys, Vincent brings a rare depth of technical knowledge to your specific family dynamics and financial portfolio.
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Schedule a confidential consultation to discuss your family's unique needs and asset protection goals.