Estate Law

Raleigh Estate Planning and Probate Lawyers

Estate planning should be important to anyone who wants to protect the future of his or her family or wants to direct who gets what and when after death. Without estate planning, state law distributes your property according to predetermined rules. Estate planning allows you to control the disposition of your property and to plan for the possibility of becoming unable to make legal and financial decisions.

Planning for property management and distribution at death is accomplished through instruments including wills and trusts. Planning for incapacity is accomplished with living wills, powers of attorney, and advance health care directives. But estate planning also considers your exposure to income, estate, and gift taxes. Careful planning can help avoid unnecessary taxation, which means more property will be available to your heirs.

The prudent person should address both sides of estate planning. Everyone should have at least a basic plan in place.

We offer a variety of legal services and instruments, including living trusts, that allow you to distribute your assets without putting your spouse and family through a costly and burdensome probate court process. We work with estate executors to administer financial, legal, and property affairs of an estate. We represent heirs in court to ensure that assets are distributed according to the law and the final wishes of the decedent.

Certified Estate Planning Specialist

Bill Kratt has been a specialist in estate planning and probate law since 1995, as certified by the North Carolina Board of Legal Specialization. He is an elected Fellow in the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, a national organization recognizing excellence in practice and involvement in the estate planning bar. To be certified as a specialist by the North Carolina State Bar, a lawyer must have expertise in the specific area, particularly he/she must:

Be an active member in good standing with the North Carolina State Bar for at least five years
Devote at least 25 percent of his or her practice to the specialty during the past five years
Attend at least 12 hours of continuing legal education seminars in the specialty area each year
Receive favorable recommendation from other lawyers and judges
Pass a written examination in the specialty practice area
Be recertified every five years.

Business Succession Planning

If you are the owner of a family business, it is important to ensure that the fruits of your labor will be left in the right hands after your retirement or death. Our estate planning lawyers have experience drafting and implementing business succession plans for businesses of all sizes and complexities. We can also ensure that mergers are implemented according to your plans.

Herring Mills & Kratt PLLC provides estate planning and probate services that meet the needs of our clients who own small- and medium-sized businesses. Our attorneys work with a network of business valuation professionals, asset protection specialists, and insurance professionals to help our clients protect their family assets now and at the time of their death. We are recognized throughout the Raleigh-Durham metro region for providing the experienced estate tax planning advice and representation you need in order to ensure that your spouse, children, and beneficiaries will be protected from future taxes and probate court concerns.

Guardianships

We can help you establish guardianship over the legal, financial, and healthcare affairs of a vulnerable member of your family. We will handle all aspects of guardianship petitioning, including record gathering, court filing, representation, and appeals, if necessary.

Learn more about estate law using the following links:

Contact the estate planning lawyers of Herring Mills & Kratt PLLC, in Raleigh, to schedule a consultation about your family asset protection and probate needs.