Western PA's Premier Estate Administration & Estate Planning Law Firm

Pittsburgh Estate Planning

We strive to make the process of estate planning and estate administration as simple and straightforward as possible. At American Wills and Estates we speak to our clients in plain English, and we are sensitive to the fact that many of our clients are still grieving the loss of a loved one. Our number one goal is to put our clients at ease and to reassure them with competency and compassion in their times of need.


Make Sure Your Digital Property Assets are Included in Your Estate Plan

We live in an ever increasingly digital world. Because of this, we have found that it has become all the more important that we take into consideration our clients so called digital "footprint" when formulating an appropriate estate plan.

Most of us don't even realize how much digital information and property we have stored online. It's vital that our loved ones and... Read More

Make Sure Your Last Will and Testament is Prepared Properly

I'm always amazed when I hear people say that they either prepared their own Last Will and Testament had it done by their CPA, their financial adviser, a notary public or some kind of online service. Most folks way to hard trust the preparation of such an important and vital document to a non-lawyer layperson.

The late actor, Philip Seymour Hoffman, trusted the... Read More

Don't Forget Your Pets When Formulating Your Estate Plan

As the owner of three rescue dogs this is always an issue that is near and dear to my heart. When you sit down to discuss having your estate plan and a Last Will and Testament put into place, make sure you take the opportunity to advise your attorney as to whether or not you have pets or other animals that will need to be cared for and placed into a good home in the event... Read More

Inside We Are All Forever Young

A helpful reminder to us all. God willing, one day we are all going to be old, so make sure you always treat your elders with the same respect you'd wish to be treated with.

https://goo.gl/2QYD6p

Estate Planning for Seniors

Moving a Loved One into Assisted Living or Personal Care

Moving a parent or other loved one into an assisted living or personal care/nursing home type of facility is never easy. Here's a caretakers guide that does a nice job of laying out, in a step-b-step manner, the many different things that need to be taken into consideration when making such a decision.

https://www.closetbox.com/resources/caretakers-guide-to-moving-... Read More

Estate Planning Mistakes

Estate Planning Mistakes - What Not to Do

Estate Planning is so important and it doesn't have to be overly complicated, but sometimes mistakes can still be made that will come back and haunt your family long after you're gone. Here's an interesting article that I cam across that highlights six estate planning mistakes that my colleagues have come across in their own practices.

Take a look and, hopefully, you... Read More

Avoiding Probate

How Do I Avoid Probate?

How do I avoid Probate? As you might imagine, that's a question that we are repeatedly asked when setting up estate plans for our clients. While there is no perfect answer to that question, there certainly are steps that can be taken to either avoid the probate process entirely or, at the very least, minimize the impact that it might have on your family after your death.... Read More

Trusts and Estate Planning

The Unfunded or Underfunded Revocable Living Trust

One problem that I've seen over and over again in my last 25 years of practicing estate planning law, is the unfunded or underfunded Revocable Living Trust. What do I mean by this? Well, time and again I've met with a client who comes into my office with their late parent's fancy and impressive looking living trust documents only to find out that there were little or no... Read More

The Importance of Organizing Your Estate Plan

THE IMPORTANCE OF KEEPING YOUR ESTATE PLANNING DOCUMENTS ORGANIZED

If, like so many, you are prone to disorder in the keeping of important documents, assuming that you keep them at all, you may be well past due for a makeover of your estate plan and your end-of-life instructions. It is not just a matter of maintaining tidiness for its own sake: a lot of money and time could... Read More

ESTATE PLANNING – TAKING THE BASIC FIRST STEPS

ESTATE PLANNING – TAKING THE BASIC FIRST STEPS

Stop procrastinating, I know no one likes to talk about estate planning, but it certainly doesn’t have to be a scary process that you keep putting off until tomorrow.  If you do absolutely nothing else, please take at the very least these basic steps:

GET THE BASIC DOCUMENTS IN PLACE

At a minimum, everyone should... Read More

Subscribe to the AWE Pittsburgh Estate Planning

Pittsburgh Probate Estate Administration and Estate Planning Lawyers