ESTATE PLANNING

Estate planning is the creation of a definite plan for managing your wealth while you’re alive and distributing it after your death. These assets may be owned by you separately or jointly with others.

Estate planning is the preservation and the distribution of your assets, both during your life and upon your death. It is accomplishing your personal and family goals and easing the management of your financial and legal affairs, as well as minimizing taxes if your estate is large enough for taxes to be of concern. When we talk about an estate, we mean all assets of any value that you own, including real property, business interests, investments, insurance proceeds, personal property and even your personal effects. An “estate plan,” generally, refers to the means by which your estate is passed on to your loved ones on your death. Estate planning can be accomplished through a variety of methods, including:

• Revocable Living Trusts
• Last Will and Testament / Probate
• Lifetime Gifting
• Joint Ownership
• Beneficiary Designations
• Life Estates

Problems often arise when people don’t coordinate all of these methods of passing on their estate. If you have a well-drafted estate plan in place, you will ensure that your estate passes to whom you want, when you want, and is carried out in the manner you’ve chosen. You can rest assured that your family won’t have to endure the public process and costly matter of probate. The government won’t be able to take what you’ve spent a lifetime building. But you need to be aware of the many options that exist in estate planning – and you must choose your estate planning attorney wisely.

We want you to feel confident about the choices you make – let us be your guide on the path toward preserving your family’s future.

PERSONAL INJURY

If you have sustained serious injuries in an accident, the medical bills are probably already piling up. If your injuries prevent you from working, it may seem impossible to make any headway. Our goal is to help you obtain full and fair compensation for all of your personal injuries and losses, including hospital bills, future medical needs, lost wages, and pain and suffering.

At Aguila Law APC, we seek compensation for people hurt because of another’s negligence. Personal injury is the term used to describe physical and mental injuries that occur because of someone else’s negligence, intentional actions, or strict liability. Most personal injury cases involve negligence.  Our personal injury attorneys work closely with every client, meticulously investigating the cause of the personal injury accident and assessing all of our clients’ injuries, costs and losses.

In addition to our own experience and legal knowledge, Aguila Law APC will partner with personal injury experts as appropriate to prove every case. We often partner with accident scene reconstructionists to examine skid marks, property damage and other evidence to help us understand and demonstrate exactly what caused the accident and who was at fault. We incorporate medical testimony from clients’ doctors to demonstrate the extent of their injuries. Where appropriate, we also work closely with vocational experts to understand how the accident has limited our client’s ability to work, information that will also be relevant in SSDI proceedings.

Depending upon the intent or negligence of the responsible party, our client may be entitled to recover personal injury monetary damages for all their losses and expenses they have incurred as a direct result of the negligent or intentional harm that caused the personal injury through a settlement or a judgment.

Personal injury monetary damages can include the following:

• Lost wages, including benefits
• Loss of earning capacity
• Medical expenses
• Pain and suffering
• Mental disability
• Physical disability
• Emotional trauma
• Disfigurement
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Property damages
• Out-of-pocket expenses

Once our personal injury attorneys have completed the investigation and determined the cause of the accident and assessed our client’s personal injury monetary damages, costs and loses, we present your claim and negotiate with the insurance companies for just compensation.

Insurance companies take us seriously because they know that we prepare every case to be successful at trial. If a fair settlement cannot be reached, we are experienced and aggressive trial attorneys who are more than ready to present our client’s case to a jury.

Our attorneys are aggressive, dedicated advocates who devote all the time and energy necessary to pursue every client’s personal injury case successfully.

LIVING TRUSTS

A Living Trust is the legal document that outlines the way in which your assets will pass on to your loved ones when you die. When you prepare your Living Trust, you will identify your beneficiaries as well as the person who will carry out your wishes, your successor trustee.

Once you have created your Trust, you then must fund it, or transfer your assets into it, including deeds to real property, savings accounts, life insurance, brokerage accounts, etc. A Trust is a living document, and it should be updated with important life events—a new spouse, a significant new investment, property or job, or if you want to change or add beneficiaries.

• Quick and easy transfer of property to your loved ones when you die.
• Uninterrupted management of the estate should you and your spouse become incapacitated.
• Avoiding the long, arduous and expensive process of probate.

To also keep in mind: Trusts are private documents. If you die without a Living Trust, your estate goes into Probate and becomes a matter of public record. A Revocable Living Trust can be revoked or amended at any time during your lifetime.

At Aguila Law APC, our Living Trust is a complete end-of-life document package that includes not only the Trust but a Financial Power of Attorney and an Advanced Healthcare Directive. We also have a section to list emergency contact information for key providers that could include doctors, insurance agents, bankers, contractors—even veterinarians if there are family pets. We encourage our clients to include their logins and passwords to their online accounts—this can save countless hours and inconvenience if there is an emergency or a need to access brokerage or banking accounts for key information. We want our clients to think carefully to include information that their loved ones would need if something should happen to them.

BUSINESS LAW

At Aguila Law APC, we represent a wide array of business and corporate clients, ranging from sole proprietorships to entrepreneurial small companies to large business organizations. Our attorneys counsel clients through all phases of business and corporate law, including corporate formation and governance, mergers and acquisitions, general contract formation and administration and real estate work. Our goal in this practice area is to help clients understand and work through their business issues so as to enable them to operate successfully regardless of the economic climate.

With respect to business formation and corporate governance, our attorneys work with clients to help them focus and facilitate important decisions related to the foundation of their organizations. To that end, we assist clients with selecting the correct type of business entity, handling all aspects of forming the entity and qualifying it to do business in any states necessary, as well as provide ongoing support and maintenance of the entity after formation.

Another significant aspect of our business law practice relates to the purchase or sale of businesses. It is critical to plan and structure these transactions in such a manner as to achieve the expected results and avoid unexpected or unwanted consequences. Based on our extensive experience, our attorneys counsel clients, negotiate terms and conditions and draft documents in such a manner as to best achieve our clients' business goals.

We also routinely assist clients with leasing, selling and/or purchasing real property. From negotiation and drafting of letters of intent and binding agreements, through performing due diligence and obtaining financing until closing of the transaction, we focus our energies on ensuring that our clients understand the business considerations associated with each transaction. As in all our practice areas, our attorneys offer diligent representation during every stage of a real estate transaction.

WILLS

Without a will, you have no control over what happens to your family and your belongings when you die. State laws will direct how your property is divided and a court will decide who should become the guardian of your children.  However, by preparing a will and keeping it updated as your income or property changes, you can protect your family. 

Creating a will is an essential part of making sure your family will be cared for after you pass. A will:

• Ensures that your property will be distributed exactly as you wish.
• Allows a larger portion of your property to go to those you designate, rather than to court fees and other expenses.
• Can reduce the amount of taxes you pay.
• Reduces the expenses associated with probating your estate.
• Allows you to appoint a guardian of your choice for your children.
• Allows you to appoint a trustee, if needed, to manage your property.