Frequently Asked Questions​
Answers to Your Most Common Questions
FAQs about Wills, Trusts and Probate
Estate planning is a process involving the counsel of professional advisors who are familiar with your goals and concerns, your assets and how they are owned, and your family structure. It can involve the services of a variety of professionals, including your lawyer, accountant, financial planner, life insurance advisor, banker and broker.
What should I bring with me to the initial meeting with the attorney?
Before your meeting, our staff will guide you through a short list of questions which will help the attorney prepare. We find that most people have a generally good idea of what they own and who the people are in their lives that could act as agents upon death or disability. We encourage our clients to leave their documents at home for the first meeting.
How long will it take to create my estate plan?
The staff at Beaupre Law is here to guide you through the necessary steps to help you move through the process. We generally find that the process takes about 60 days to complete, on average. But if you have a tight deadline, we may be able to complete your plan in as little a few weeks.
What is probate?
Probate is the legal process through which the court sees that, when you die, your debts are paid and your assets are distributed according to your will. If you don’t have a valid will, your assets are distributed according to state law. Probate can be expensive, time consuming, invites controversy, and lacks privacy.
What is an "estate?"
For many, the term "estate" conjures images of mansions and piles of money. But your estate is simply everything that you own and everything that you owe. It's your entire net worth, from the property you own, to all your bank accounts, investments, and everything in between. It often includes any rights or interests you are entitled, as well.
What is a trust, and how can it benefit me?
A trust is a legal arrangement where a trustee holds and manages assets on behalf of beneficiaries. Trusts can provide numerous benefits, including avoiding probate, reducing estate taxes, and protecting assets. Consulting with a trust attorney in NH can help you determine the best type of trust for your needs.
What types of trusts are available?
There are various types of trusts, including revocable living trusts, irrevocable trusts, special needs trusts, and charitable trusts. Each type serves different purposes and offers unique benefits. Our trust attorney in NH can guide you through the options and help you choose the right trust for your situation.
How can a trust help with estate planning?
Trusts can play a crucial role in estate planning by ensuring your assets are distributed according to your wishes, minimizing estate taxes, and avoiding the lengthy probate process. A trust attorney in NH can help you integrate trusts into your estate plan to provide for your loved ones and achieve your financial goals.
What is an estate plan?
Estate planning is all about protecting yourself and your loved ones. It's made up of a handful of very important documents, each with a different and unique purpose. Essential to estate planning is ensuring your goals are met, such as avoiding the probate court process, transferring assets to chosen beneficiaries, and minimizing taxes. Various documents are prepared to accomplish your goals, which might include a Will or a Trust.
Do I need to plan my estate if I don’t have children?
Yes! Planning for your care and estate when you are older is more complicated if you don’t have children, since children often fall into the role of backup agents and caregivers.
My family member was diagnosed with dementia. Is it too late for her to start estate planning?
Not necessarily. A dementia diagnosis doesn’t always mean you’re unable to make important decisions at a certain point in time. But as symptoms of dementia get worse, you may no longer be able to make decisions about things like your finances, health, or welfare. This is sometimes referred to as lacking mental capacity. If you are worried about this possibility or if you know someone that was diagnosed with dementia, you should immediately call your Attorney and make arrangements to discuss your options.
How much will it cost?
For our estate planning work, we offer a range of options to meet your needs, so cost will vary depending on your family dynamics, assets, and goals. We charge fixed fees, meaning that before you engage with us you’ll know exactly what it will cost. No hourly billing. No surprise charges for those extra phone calls.
How do I set up a trust?
Setting up a trust involves several steps, including selecting a trustee, drafting the trust document, and transferring assets into the trust. Working with a trust attorney in NH ensures that the trust is properly established and meets all legal requirements, protecting your assets and fulfilling your wishes.
Can I change or revoke a trust once it's established?
It depends on the type of trust. A revocable trust can be modified or revoked by the grantor at any time, while an irrevocable trust generally cannot be changed once it is established. Our trust attorney in NH can explain the differences and help you decide which type of trust is best for your needs.
FAQs about estate planning, trusts, probate, and elder law
We know estate planning, trusts, probate, and elder law can feel overwhelming at first. We put together these frequently asked questions to help explain the issues we discuss most often with clients and families.
Estate Planning FAQs
For the first meeting, we usually tell people to bring their questions more than anything else. We do not need a full stack of bank statements, tax returns, and supporting documents to get started. What helps most is a general understanding of your family, your assets, and your goals.
If you are planning for both spouses, we strongly prefer that both people attend. It helps us answer everyone’s questions directly and make sure both people understand the options and process from the beginning. That usually makes the planning smoother and avoids confusion later.
If both of you want to do planning, then yes, both of you should be there. We need to understand whether your goals are aligned and address any potential conflict issues up front. That is especially important for unmarried couples.
Usually, no. For the initial consultation, we generally do not need detailed documentation. What we need first is the big picture, such as your family situation, whether you own property, and whether you have accounts like retirement funds, investments, or life insurance.
We usually start with your family tree and your overall financial picture. That includes whether you are married, whether you have children, whether your parents are living, and whether you own a home or other property. We do not need every detail right away, but we do need enough to understand where you are starting from.
Because those facts can matter a great deal in planning. In New Hampshire, for example, if you want to disinherit a legal child, that child generally needs to be specifically named and omitted. If we do not know that child exists, the plan may not work the way you intended.
Yes. Plans can be changed. That said, the more complete and candid you are at the beginning, the better guidance we can give you from the start.
It depends on the complexity of the situation. A simpler plan may cost much less than a plan for a blended family, a family with property in multiple states, or someone needing tax or nursing home asset protection planning. We usually tell people they are not paying for paper alone; they are paying for planning, advice, and a strategy built around their goals.
Because the documents may look similar, while the services behind them are very different. One firm may include revisions, follow-up guidance, or coordination with financial advisors, while another may not. It’s important to ask what is included and what is not included before comparing fees.
Templates can generate documents, but they do not give legal advice or planning. They do not know what questions to ask or what issues you may not know to raise. In our experience, that is where some of the most expensive mistakes happen.
Trust Planning FAQs
We see assets that still go through probate when they were meant to avoid it, beneficiary designations that were never updated, and trusts that were created but never properly funded. We also see situations where minor children are named to receive funds directly or where a blended family plan leaves children unintentionally cut out. Those problems are often much more expensive to fix later.
A financial advisor can and should be part of the conversation, but legal estate planning should always be handled by an attorney. Financial advisors are licensed to give investment and financial advice, not draft wills, trusts, or powers of attorney. The best results usually happen when both professionals work together.
We think of financial planning as building and protecting wealth during your lifetime. Legal estate planning is about what happens to that wealth, and to the people you care about, if you die or become incapacitated. The two work together, but they are not the same thing.
Ideally, they should act as planning partners. The financial advisor may be the first to learn about important life changes, and the attorney can then make sure the legal plan stays aligned. We find that coordination is especially important for beneficiary designations, asset titling, and major life or business changes.
The hard part is that you often do not know a document is broken until the moment you need it. A document can be technically valid but still fail to accomplish what you intended. We also see state-specific issues, missing contingency planning, and trusts that were never properly funded.
Probate FAQs
Probate is the court-supervised process of settling a person’s affairs after death. The court validates the will (if there is one), appoints someone to manage the estate, and oversees the process of paying debts and distributing assets. It is not automatically a bad process, but it is public, slow, and often costly.
Yes, probate is generally a public court process. Once probate is opened, filings may be available through the court system, and notice requirements can also make the process public. That surprises a lot of people and is one reason many families want to minimize probate.
It depends on the estate, the state, and whether there are disputes, but even a simple probate in New Hampshire is usually not quick. In our experience, the fastest cases may still take seven to nine months, and many take a year or more. If there are disputes or complications, it can take longer.
A lot more than most people expect. The executor may need to locate and secure assets, notify institutions, pay bills, file tax returns, keep detailed records, communicate with beneficiaries, and work through court deadlines. It is a serious responsibility, and there can be personal liability for mismanaging estate assets.
Usually it is how public it is, how long it takes, and how much it costs. We also find that many people are surprised to learn that not everything passes through their will. Assets with named beneficiaries and jointly owned property often pass outside probate.
Because once they understand it, they realize it can create delay, expense, and a public record at a difficult time for the family. For many of our clients, minimizing or avoiding probate becomes one of the main goals of their estate plan. Good planning can make things much easier for the people left behind.
Elder Law FAQs
For many people, that is one of the main goals they want to discuss. We often hear from clients who want to make sure they do not lose the house or lose the assets they hoped to leave to their children. That kind of goal is important for us to understand up front so we can recommend the right planning strategies.
No. Financial planning and elder law may overlap in some ways, but elder law involves legal planning around issues that financial planning alone does not reach. That can include incapacity planning, healthcare decision-making, Medicaid eligibility planning, and nursing home planning.
If you are no longer able to manage your own affairs, someone needs legal authority to act for you. That is where estate planning documents like powers of attorney and healthcare decision-making documents become so important. Without the proper legal structure in place, families can run into unnecessary problems at exactly the wrong time.
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