Attorney Aric Stano is dedicated to providing his clients quality legal services in the fields of estate planning, estate administration, and business legal services.
Estate Planning
Estate planning is about more than distributing your property after your death – though a properly-crafted estate plan does allow you to provide for the distribution of your assets to your loved ones upon your passing, it also provides for your care and the management of your assets if you become incapacitated.
Your estate plan represents the culmination of the work of your lifetime.
Wills
Wills allow you to specify the distribution of your assets and name guardians for minor children or legally incompetent individuals in your care.
A will is the simplest legal document allowing you to specify your wishes, and as such are the foundation of every estate plan. Wills are the only document in which you may nominate a guardian for your children, so it is important that every parent have a will.
However, wills are not without their disadvantages. To take binding legal effect, a will must be submitted to probate, and your assets must pass via the court-supervised probate process. A will is usually only suitable for the most basic estates.
Trusts
Trusts allow for more complex planning, from avoiding probate, to the long-term management of assets for the benefit of your family, to care for family members with special needs, to estate tax minimization.
Advance Directives
Advance directives – your living will and durable power of attorney for health care – are perhaps the most important legal documents an adult can create. Your living will and power of attorney for health care allow you to specify your medical wishes in the event that you become incapacitated and cannot make your wishes known yourself, and name an individual to make decisions for your medical care and treatment on your behalf. Every adult should have a living will and durable power of attorney for health care.
Estate Administration
Whether your estate plan involves a will or a more complex arrangement of trusts and other instruments, an estate administration attorney can help make sure that your wishes are followed and your property is distributed accordingly. If you are the administrator of a probate estate or trust, an estate administration attorney can help you navigate the process and ensure that you meet your fiduciary obligations to the estate and beneficiaries.
Probate Administration
The probate process through which all wills must be administered can be lengthy and complicated. Ohio’s probate laws make many demands of the administrator of a probate estate, and the administrator is bound by law to act in the estate’s best interests. An experienced probate attorney can help you navigate the probate court quickly and efficiently, and guide you in your obligations to the estate and the court.
Trust Administration
Even though trusts are not subject to the probate process, a trustee is obligated to abide by the terms of the trust and owes the highest duties the law recognizes to the beneficiaries of the trust. An estate administration attorney can assist you in administering a trust.
Business Legal Services
Whether you are looking to form a business, draft an operating agreement for your LLC, or prepare contracts, Attorney Stano is happy to assist you.