ESTATE PLANNING ATTORNEY IN ALEXANDRIA, VA
Thoughtful estate planning counsel for Virginia individuals and families who want to protect what they are building, plan for the people they care about, and make intentional decisions about their assets, wishes, and future.
Estate planning is about more than documents. Basis Law helps Virginia clients think through family, assets, decision-making, Estate planning is about more than preparing documents. Basis Law helps Virginia clients think through family, assets, decision-making, incapacity, beneficiary designations, and how property should pass so the documents work together as a coordinated plan.
UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM
Estate planning often begins with practical questions: Who should make decisions if I cannot? What happens to my assets? How can I make things easier for the people I care about? What needs to change as life changes?
A thoughtful estate plan brings those questions into one coordinated strategy. Wills, trusts, powers of attorney, advance medical directives, beneficiary designations, deeds, and other planning tools can serve different purposes. The goal is to determine which tools make sense for your circumstances and how they should work together.
Basis Law approaches estate planning by first understanding the client’s family, assets, priorities, and concerns. From there, the planning process focuses on making intentional decisions about who should act on the client’s behalf, how assets should be handled or transferred, and what documents are appropriate to carry those decisions forward.
How Basis Law PLLC Can Help
Basis Law helps Virginia individuals and families create and maintain estate plans that address property, decision-making, incapacity, family needs, and the transfer of assets. The firm also assists families with estate administration after a loved one’s death.
Preparation of Virginia wills that address the distribution of property, nominate executors and other fiduciaries, address guardianship for minor children when applicable, and coordinate with the client’s broader estate plan.
Guidance on whether trust-based planning is appropriate for the client’s circumstances, including the preparation of revocable living trusts and other appropriate trust documents and coordination with the broader estate plan.
Preparation of durable powers of attorney that authorize trusted agents to handle financial, property, and other authorized matters when the client needs or wants someone to act on their behalf.
Preparation of advance medical directives addressing health-care decision-making, designation of appropriate agents, and the client’s instructions and preferences concerning future medical care.
Review of how beneficiary designations, account ownership, real estate, business interests, and other assets coordinate with the estate plan, including preparation of deeds when appropriate to carry out the planning strategy.
Guidance for executors and families administering a Virginia estate after a death, including navigating the probate and estate-administration process, understanding fiduciary responsibilities, addressing estate assets and obligations, and completing required steps toward distribution and closing.
VIRGINIA ESTATE PLANNING
Basis Law works with Virginia individuals and families to build estate plans around their actual lives—not assumptions about what every client needs. The process considers your family, assets, priorities, existing documents, and the people you trust so that each part of the plan serves a purpose and works with the others.
Already have an estate plan? A review can help determine whether your existing documents still reflect your family, assets, wishes, and current circumstances.
Discuss Your Estate PlanA Thoughtful Process
Every estate-planning engagement begins with a consultation to discuss your goals, family, assets, concerns, and planning needs. We will discuss whether individual documents or a more comprehensive estate-planning package may be appropriate, including whether a will-based or trust-based plan should be considered.
After engagement, you will complete a detailed estate-planning questionnaire covering the information needed to design your plan, including your family, assets, existing arrangements, intended beneficiaries, and potential decision-makers.
We will meet again to review your questionnaire, work through your planning decisions, identify any special considerations, and determine how the documents should work together. At this stage, we will also confirm whether the documents or package initially discussed remain appropriate based on the information provided.
Basis Law will prepare the first drafts of your estate-planning documents for your review and feedback. After the agreed revisions are completed, we will review the final documents and complete the execution process, including virtual execution when appropriate.
ESTATE PLANNING FAQs
These answers address common questions about Virginia wills, trusts, incapacity planning, and estate administration. The right approach depends on your family, assets, goals, and individual circumstances.
Estate planning is not limited to people with significant wealth. A plan can address who should receive your property, who should handle your affairs after death, who may make financial or health-care decisions if you cannot, and how you want certain decisions handled. The appropriate documents depend on your circumstances—not simply the value of your estate.
A will directs how certain property should be handled after death and can also name an executor and address guardianship for minor children. A trust is a separate legal arrangement through which a trustee holds and manages property according to the terms of the trust. Whether a plan should be will-based or trust-based depends on the client’s assets, family circumstances, objectives, and how the different components of the plan need to work together.
Estate planning can address who should have authority to act for you if you cannot manage certain matters yourself. A durable power of attorney can provide authority for financial and other authorized matters, while an advance medical directive can address health-care decisions and identify the person you want to make those decisions when necessary. The appropriate authority and instructions should be tailored to the client’s circumstances and wishes.
An estate plan should be revisited when significant changes affect the assumptions or decisions on which the plan was based. Marriage, divorce, the birth or adoption of a child, changes in relationships, acquiring or selling significant assets, changes in business ownership, relocation, or changes involving beneficiaries or fiduciaries may all warrant another look. A review can also be appropriate simply because substantial time has passed since the plan was prepared.
Both executors and administrators are fiduciaries responsible for administering a deceased person’s estate, but the way they are appointed differs. An executor is generally the person named in a will to administer the estate and must qualify before the appropriate Virginia circuit court. An administrator is generally appointed when a person dies without a will, although an administrator may also be appointed in certain circumstances when a will exists but the named executor does not serve.
Once qualified, an executor or administrator may be responsible for identifying and safeguarding estate assets, determining and addressing debts and taxes, providing required notices, filing inventories and accountings, distributing property to the appropriate beneficiaries or heirs, and completing other requirements of the estate-administration process. The particular responsibilities depend on the estate and how the property is held.
Basis Law can advise executors, administrators, and families navigating estate administration in Virginia.
TALK WITH BASIS LAW PLLC
Every new estate-planning matter begins with a consultation. We will discuss your family, assets, goals, existing documents, and planning concerns, and begin evaluating whether individual documents, a will-based plan, or trust-based planning may be appropriate for your circumstances.
