When it comes to planning for the future and protecting our families, one of the best things we can do is thorough estate planning. A quality estate plan is crucial to ensuring your property is protected, taxes are taken care of, and that your final wishes are all respected.
Regardless of your age and financial status, we’ll help you create a plan that protects your interests and goals.
Estate Planning
A thoughtful estate plan can protect your property, provide for the people you care about, and establish who can make important financial and health care decisions if you become incapacitated. South Dakota law provides several tools to accomplish these goals, including wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and advance health care directives.
Whether you are creating an estate plan, updating existing documents, or administering a loved one’s estate, we can help you develop a plan suited to your circumstances and goals.
Wills and Trusts
A will provides instructions for distributing probate assets after death and may nominate a personal representative to administer the estate. When someone dies without a valid will or other applicable disposition, South Dakota’s intestacy laws determine how certain property is distributed.
Trusts can provide an alternative way to own, manage, and distribute property. Depending on the type of trust and how it is structured and funded, a trust may provide for beneficiaries, address incapacity, establish distribution terms, and help simplify administration.
We can help you determine whether a will, revocable trust, or other estate-planning arrangement is appropriate for your needs.
Trust Administration
Trustees have important responsibilities, including managing trust property and following the terms of the trust and applicable South Dakota law. We assist trustees and beneficiaries with trust administration, asset management, distributions, beneficiary communications, and questions or disputes that may arise.
Estate Administration
The death of a family member can create substantial legal and practical responsibilities. An estate may involve real estate, financial accounts, business interests, personal property, debts, creditor claims, tax considerations, beneficiary designations, and other assets or obligations.
We guide personal representatives and families through the administration process under South Dakota law, from the initial probate or appointment proceeding through the resolution of estate obligations and distribution of property to the appropriate heirs or devisees.
Probate
Probate is the legal process for administering a decedent’s estate, addressing applicable debts and claims, and transferring probate property to the appropriate heirs or devisees. South Dakota’s Uniform Probate Code provides both informal and formal probate procedures, depending on the circumstances.
We assist personal representatives, heirs, devisees, and families with probate and estate administration, including preparing and filing documents, addressing creditor claims, managing estate assets, and completing distributions.
Our goal is to provide practical guidance through the legal process while helping protect your interests and carry out the decedent’s wishes in accordance with South Dakota law.
Planning for the Future
Estate planning is about more than preparing documents. It is about creating a coordinated plan for your property, your family, and your care during periods of incapacity and after death.
We work with individuals and families throughout South Dakota to develop estate plans that reflect their circumstances, priorities, and goals while taking into account the requirements of South Dakota law.
