Estate, Wills & Trusts

Each probate, estate administration, trusts, and estate planning attorney at Longman & Van Grack has many years of experience with countless different types of future planning documents, particularly in Maryland, Washington, DC, and Virginia. Our probate, estate administration, trusts, and estate planning attorney address creating/drafting a last will and testament, creating/drafting appropriate trust documents, addressing the tax concerns of each estate decision, representing the estate or personal representative of an estate, and litigating any probate matter as needed. Each probate, estate administration, trusts, and estate planning attorney at our firm works with each of our clients to ensure that all of their desires are met, all probate matters are addressed, and all of their estate planning needs are taken care of. Each Maryland, Virginia, and Washington DC probate, trusts, and estate planning attorney at our firm has a background in both estate planning law as well as tax law to ensure that each of our clients’ estate planning and tax planning needs are addressed.  Our probate, trusts, and estate planning attorneys also work directly with our civil litigation attorneys if any probate litigation is necessary in the administration of an estate.

Specifically, in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC, a trust can hold assets and property on someone else’s behalf. In wills, trusts are commonly established for minor children, so that an adult can manage the children’s money until they reach an age when their parents believe that the no-longer-children will be able to manage it. Trusts are also commonly used in second marriage situations wherein an individual may want to allow a spouse to have access to certain assets while the spouse is living, but for the assets or property to ultimately pass to the decedent’s children.

Also, while it is not a requirement, many wills that we draft states whether an individual wants to be buried or cremated, and where/how the body should be buried or the ashes should be spread. Sometimes, wills contain other information about funeral arrangements.
Further, in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC wills can be great tools for tax planning in order to avoid federal or state estate or inheritance taxes. Our tax attorneys and estate planning attorneys specialize in tax planning as part of estate planning. This specific tax planning can often be accomplished by setting up various trusts.