Estate Planning for Medical Professionals

 

Every individual should have an estate plan, but medical professionals have special needs and concerns. There are a number of options available to protect your assets and guarantee that the practice you spent years building benefits your heirs when you pass away. Knowing the various ways to retain your assets and also to protect them, will help you understand your legal rights and help you make the best possible decisions when developing your estate plan.

Standard Estate Planning

Everyone needs to have a strong and detailed estate plan where personal finance, retirement planning, tax planning, and business planning work together. Although medical professionals need a conventional estate plan, they also have unique challenges and questions that may not be experienced by those outside of the medical community.

In fact, while doctors, chiropractors, therapists, and dentists may make a lot of revenue, they may not have a high net value. The explanation for this is that without a strong retirement savings plan, they may not allocate enough for retirement, or wisely save in a manner that would minimize their income tax liability. Estate planning for healthcare professionals can be a difficult task, but there are several options available, such as irrevocable trusts attorney for minor children, which can help not only plan for retirement but also guarantee that your assets are handed over to your beneficiaries with relatively low tax penalties.

Protection of Assets

If you are a medical practitioner you have likely heard the saying: “There are two kinds of doctors – those who have been sued, and those who will be sued.” There are two types of trusts that can protect the assets of healthcare providers — domestic asset protection trusts and foreign assets protection trusts. These types of trusts are legally complex, and visiting with an experienced estate planning attorney can help you understand if they are right for your particular situation.

Buy-Sell Agreement

As you go through this process, you may wonder who will buy your medical practice when you pass away? Who actually would know the true value of your business? A buy-sell agreement is a legal agreement that eliminates the task of selling a medical practice after a healthcare professional passes away. This legal contract makes decisions ahead of time regarding who will purchase the business and for exactly what price. A buy-sell agreement eliminates any uncertainty regarding the selling of your medical practice following your death.

Contact an Estate Planning Attorney Today

If you are a medical professional of any kind, you have very unique challenges when it comes to estate planning, and ensuring that your family gets the full value of the practice that you worked so hard to build during your lifetime. Contact an experienced New Jersey family law attorney at the law firm of Giro Law at 201-690-1642. We can help work with you regarding your medical practice to ensure that your estate planning documents cover all circumstances, and ensure that your family receives assets from your practice according to your wishes.