Estate planning is the process of creating a plan to manage and distribute your assets according to your wishes, both during your life and after you're gone. It includes preparing essential legal documents, such as wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and healthcare directives, to protect your family and preserve your legacy. With thoughtful estate planning, you ensure peace of mind by providing clarity and security for your loved ones.
At Ohio Heritage Law, trust-based estate planning is our flagship service, offering comprehensive strategies to protect your assets, preserve your family's privacy, and ensure that your wishes are honored. Trust-based plans offer significant benefits, including enhanced privacy, efficient asset management, and protection for your loved ones.
Creating a revocable living trust allows you to manage your assets during your lifetime and ensures they are distributed according to your wishes when you pass away. Assets held in trust avoid the costly and time-consuming probate process.
For those concerned about long-term care costs, a Medicaid Asset Protection Trust can help preserve assets while ensuring eligibility for Medicaid benefits, providing peace of mind and financial security for you and your family.
Families with loved ones who have disabilities can leave assets to those individuals without jeopardizing their eligibility for government benefits. This strategy allows families to set aside assets to enhance the quality of life for their loved one while ensuring continued access to essential public assistance (like Medicaid or Social Security).
A will-based estate plan allows you to appoint an executor to oversee the distribution of your assets after your death according to your wishes. Will-based estate plans are overseen by the probate court, which manages the legal process of distributing assets. Will-based estate plans are best for people who do not have significant concerns about privacy or the need for advanced asset protection strategies
It depends — but we can help either way.
First, you don’t need to be able to find your old documents in order to work with us. We regularly help clients create new estate plans, even when their previous paperwork is missing.
Second, in some cases — especially with original wills — a lost or destroyed document can create serious issues after death. Probate courts generally require the original signed will, and without it, your wishes might not be honored.
Let’s talk. We’ll help you figure out what you had, whether anything needs to be recreated, and how to move forward with confidence and clarity.
It’s helpful if you can — but not required. If you have copies or know where they might be, bring them along. If you’re unsure what you have, don’t worry! We’ll walk you through it together and figure out what you need.
First, we’re so sorry for your loss.
When a spouse passes, it’s a natural and important time to review your plan. Many estate planning documents name your spouse as your agent, executor, or beneficiary, and those roles may now need to be changed.
We’ll guide you through what updates make sense and help you feel confident about your next steps.
Not at all. We can pull a copy of your deed through your county recorder’s office — and we often do that for clients during the planning process.
What matters is that we understand how your property is currently titled so we can make sure your plan works the way you intend.
It’s likely. Each state has different laws around estate planning and probate, so it’s wise to have your documents reviewed after moving.
Some parts of your plan might still work, but others—like your healthcare documents or the way property is titled—may need to be updated to follow Ohio law.
We’ll help you sort it out.
Most clients complete their plan within 3–6 weeks, but the exact timeline depends on your availability. If you have flexibility for daytime appointments, you may be able to move through the process more quickly — afternoon and evening time slots tend to book up the fastest.
We do our best to accommodate your schedule while keeping the process smooth and efficient.
Not necessarily. As long as your loved one still understands the nature of the documents and can make decisions for themselves, we may still be able to help.
We’ll always meet privately with the client to evaluate capacity, and we’ll never push someone to sign something they don’t fully understand.
If planning is still possible, we’ll guide the process with care and compassion.
Yes — we frequently help clients update or revise existing estate plans. If your documents were prepared by another attorney, we’ll need to carefully review them before offering recommendations.
These cases often require a Comprehensive Planning Consultation, which includes a thorough review of your current plan and tailored legal advice about your next steps.
We’ll let you know if this type of meeting is the best fit after your free Discovery Meeting.
The information provided on this website is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Visiting this website or contacting Ohio Heritage Law LLC through this website does not create an attorney-client relationship. You should not act or rely on any information provided without seeking professional legal advice tailored to your specific situation. Ohio Heritage Law LLC does not accept representation of clients without a formal client engagement agreement. Please do not send any confidential information to Ohio Heritage Law LLC until an attorney-client relationship has been established.