Comprehensive Estate Planning with Azza Law
In just three meetings, we’ll create a personalized plan tailored to your needs. This may include drafting a pour-over will, establishing and funding a trust (including deeds, a certificate of trust, and a declaration of homestead), and preparing advance health care directive documents such as your durable power of attorney, health care proxy, and HIPAA authorization release form.
Meeting 1: Getting to Know You
Free 45-Minute Consultation
Location: Via Zoom or at my home office in Bellingham, MA
This conversation is about getting comfortable with one another and learning about your family, assets, and goals. I'll share transparent, flat-free pricing and an intake questionnaire to complete if you'd like to move forward.
Amy gave us many answers to questions we hadn’t realized we had in the first place!
“Amy Azza created our trust and will, and we were extremely pleased with the entire experience. Amy listened carefully to our concerns and responded with ideas that met all of our needs, including options we didn’t know we had. Although we arrived with many questions prior to our meetings, she answered most before we had need to ask. In fact, Amy gave us many answers to questions we hadn’t realized we had in the first place! She communicated by email before and after each meeting, supplying us with checklists and steps to take to ensure we made things easy for those we leave behind. Amy’s pleasant demeanor, ability to explain things in an easy-to-understand manner, as well as her general respect for us and our time made for a super-efficient and satisfying outcome. We highly recommend Azza Law to anyone looking for assistance with planning for their wishes and the future security for loved ones.”
—James T., Hopedale, MA
Additional Estate Planning Services
Her guidance brought me comfort during an emotional time.
“I recently found Amy while searching for a health care proxy for my 18-year-old daughter who is heading off to college. From the start, Amy was absolutely wonderful. Attentive, knowledgeable, and incredibly kind. As a fellow mom who has experienced sending a child to college, she was so empathetic and truly understood what I was going through. Her guidance brought me comfort during an emotional time. I will absolutely recommend Amy to anyone in the future—she is exceptional.”
—Melissa S., Bellingham, MA
FAQs
Estate planning is the proactive process of documenting how you want your assets handled and distributed and your minor children cared for should you become incapacitated or die.
My answer to this is: you get what you pay for. While it may seem like a way to save money, the outcomes often fail to protect you fully. In those instances, you'll need to pay an experienced attorney to fix things. The safest and most cost-effective path is to go straight to a professional to protect your assets and your family.
At Azza Law, the estate planning process typically takes between three and five weeks from initial consultation to signing, but can be expedited if necessary.
The cost of estate planning depends on the specifics of your situation and the types of protections you need. Azza Law always provides flat-fee pricing up front so you feel comfortable asking every question and getting what you need without worrying about surprise fees.
Proactive planning is the best way to protect your legacy and your loved ones, regardless of your age or the size of your estate. I usually advise anyone 18 or older to put their advance health care directives in place, and anyone with children, property, health complications, or who is over 40 to start thinking about comprehensive estate planning.
A will is a legal document that designates who gets your assets upon death, names legal guardians for your minor children, names the person in charge of your estate, lists specific bequests, and documents your wishes. Wills do not allow your assets to bypass probate, but they do mean that you, rather than the state of Massachusetts, decide who gets your property or cares for your minor children when you die.
A trust is an agreement between you and another individual you choose or yourself acting as your own trustee, who promises to hold and manage the assets held in the trust for beneficiaries that you designate. A trust allows you to allocate your property in ways that reflect your family's true needs when a simple division of assets is inappropriate. Trusts can be used to provide support for beneficiaries (children or ailing parents) without giving them access to the trust property directly if they are too young or ill to manage it appropriately. Trusts can also be used to reduce income or estate taxes, shelter property from lawsuits or creditors, and potentially eliminate the need for probate, passing property more quickly and less expensively to the designated beneficiaries.
A health care proxy is a document that names someone you trust as your proxy, or agent, to express your wishes and make health care decisions for you if you are unable to speak for yourself. In Massachusetts, we also include your advance health care directive in your health care proxy.
A durable power of attorney is a document that names someone to make legal, economic, and financial decisions for you in the event you become mentally or physically incapacitated during your lifetime. A durable power of attorney provides extensive power to the individual who is assigned that role. Absent an appointed agent in a durable power of attorney, it would be necessary for a family member or loved one to petition the court to become the guardian over the incapacitated person.