Matthew Carucci helps individuals and families in Delaware create and update estate plans using wills, trusts, and related legal arrangements.

His estate-planning practice includes people creating their first plan, updating existing documents, considering a trust, and planning ahead to reduce future probate complications.

Estate planning is closely connected to Matt’s probate work. He represents people who are currently responsible for administering Delaware estates, and he also helps people make decisions in advance about how their own property and affairs should be handled.

That combination allows estate planning to be considered not only in terms of the documents being created today, but also in terms of what the eventual administration of the estate may look like later.

Estate planning and probate address different stages of the same broader process.

Estate planning takes place during a person’s lifetime. It allows a person to make legal arrangements for property, beneficiaries, decision-making authority, and the future administration of the estate.

Probate and estate administration take place after death. They involve carrying out the legal process required to administer property that belongs to the estate.

Matt works with clients on both sides of this timeline.

Some clients already need to probate an estate. Others want to put a plan in place before their family has to deal with those responsibilities.

A well-organized estate plan can provide clearer instructions and reduce uncertainty for the people who will eventually be responsible for carrying it out.

A will is one of the primary documents used to state how a person wants certain property and responsibilities handled after death.

Matt helps Delaware clients create wills and update existing wills when their circumstances or intentions change.

A will may address issues such as:

• Who should receive property.
• Who should serve as executor.
• How particular property should be distributed.
• How the will fits with the rest of the estate plan.

Creating a will involves more than producing a document.

The will needs to reflect the person’s intentions and work alongside other parts of the estate plan, including trusts, beneficiary arrangements, jointly owned property, and other assets that may transfer differently.

Matt helps clients understand how the will fits into that larger structure.

Trusts can be used to hold, manage, and transfer property as part of an estate plan.

Many people first become interested in trusts because they want to know whether a trust can help avoid probate.

A trust can be an important probate-planning tool, but it is not automatically the appropriate solution for every person or every asset.

Matt works with clients who are considering trusts for purposes that may include:

• Organizing how property should pass to beneficiaries.
• Reducing the amount of property that may eventually need to pass through probate.
• Establishing instructions for how certain property should be managed.
• Incorporating a trust into a broader estate plan.
• Making future estate administration more manageable for family members.

The appropriate structure depends on the client’s property, objectives, existing documents, and overall estate plan.

Avoiding probate is a major reason many people begin considering wills, trusts, and other estate-planning strategies.

Not every asset necessarily passes through probate, and probate itself is not automatically a problem.

The more useful question is which assets would require probate under the current arrangement and whether a different estate-planning structure would produce a better result.

Matt helps clients consider those questions before probate becomes necessary.

His practice includes both people currently administering estates and people trying to make future administration easier for their own families.

This connection between planning and administration is an important part of Matt’s estate-planning practice.

Learn more about Matt’s probate administration practice 

When a person dies without an effective estate plan, Delaware law may determine important parts of how the estate is handled.

The result may differ from what the person would have chosen.

A lack of planning can also leave family members with additional questions about:

• Who should administer the estate.
• How property should pass.
• What the deceased person intended.
• Which legal process is required.
• Whether additional probate steps could have been avoided through advance planning.

Estate planning allows many of these decisions to be made deliberately rather than leaving them entirely to default legal rules after death.

Estate planning is not necessarily a one-time process.

A will, trust, or other planning arrangement can become outdated as a person’s family, property, relationships, or intentions change.

Matt helps clients review and revise estate plans that no longer reflect their current circumstances.

An estate-plan update may be appropriate when:

• Beneficiaries need to change.
• The person chosen to serve as executor should change.
• Significant property has been acquired or sold.
• Family circumstances have changed.
• An older will or trust no longer reflects the client’s intentions.
• The client wants to reconsider how the plan affects probate.
• The client wants to add or revise a trust.

The relevant issue is not simply how old the documents are. It is whether the existing plan still accomplishes what the person intends.

Matt’s estate-planning practice includes clients who:

• Need to create a will.
• Want to update an existing will.
• Are considering a trust.
• Want to understand whether a trust may help reduce probate.
• Need to revise an older estate plan.
• Want to organize how property will pass to family members or other beneficiaries.
• Want to make future estate administration easier.
• Are planning ahead rather than responding to an immediate probate problem.

These matters all involve making legal decisions before another person has to administer the estate.

Matt regularly works with estate-planning clients who are specifically concerned about probate.

A client may have heard that a trust can avoid probate, may have experienced probate while handling someone else’s estate, or may simply want to reduce the work their family will eventually need to perform.

The answer is not necessarily the same for every client.

Probate planning requires looking at the person’s assets and understanding how those assets are currently expected to transfer.

A trust may be part of the solution. Other ownership or beneficiary arrangements may also affect what eventually becomes part of the probate estate.

The goal is to create an estate plan that fits the person’s actual circumstances rather than relying on a single strategy simply because it is commonly associated with probate avoidance.

Matt’s probate and estate-planning work are closely related.

Probate administration reveals the practical consequences of decisions made before death.

A clear estate plan can give the eventual executor or administrator better information about what the deceased intended. Trusts and other arrangements may also change which property needs to be administered through probate.

At the same time, an estate plan cannot guarantee that probate will never be required.

Matt’s practice addresses both sides of that relationship:

• Planning before death.
• Administration after death.

This makes future estate administration a practical consideration when creating the plan.

Estate planning and adult guardianship are different legal processes, but both can involve questions about who has authority to act for another person.

Estate-planning documents can establish certain forms of authority in advance.

Adult guardianship is a court process used when legal authority must be established through a guardianship proceeding.

An existing power of attorney may be relevant when a family is considering guardianship, but power of attorney and guardianship are not the same.

Because Matt handles both estate planning and adult guardianship, he can help clients understand which type of legal authority applies to the situation involved.

Learn more about Matt’s adult guardianship practice 

Matt’s estate-planning practice may be particularly relevant when:

• You need a will.
• Your existing will no longer reflects your wishes.
• You are considering creating a trust.
• You want to understand whether a trust could reduce future probate.
• You want to organize how property should pass to beneficiaries.
• You want to make things easier for the person who will eventually handle your estate.
• You need to reconsider an older estate plan.
• You want to understand how your estate plan and future probate are connected.

These situations share a common objective: making legal decisions now so that important issues are not left unresolved later.

Matt’s office is in Wilmington, Delaware, and his estate-planning work focuses on Delaware clients and Delaware legal matters.

Estate planning is one of the principal areas of his practice alongside probate and estate administration and adult guardianship.

These areas are connected by questions of legal authority, property, responsibility, and planning for circumstances that may affect an individual or family in the future.

Estate planning can involve unfamiliar legal terminology, but the underlying decisions are usually practical.

Who should receive property?

Who should be responsible for administering the estate?

Would a trust serve a useful purpose?

What assets might still require probate?

Do existing documents still reflect the person’s wishes?

Matt’s approach is to make those decisions understandable and connect the legal documents to the outcomes they are intended to produce.

A client should understand not only what documents are being created, but why they are part of the plan.

Matt has developed resources addressing common questions related to estate planning and probate, including:

• What happens when someone dies without a will in Delaware.
• Whether an estate plan can help avoid probate.
• When an estate plan should be updated.
• How trusts can affect probate.
• What happens when property or accounts are located outside Delaware.
• How probate works when a plan does not keep all assets outside the estate.
• The responsibilities of the person who eventually administers the estate.

These resources address individual questions in greater detail, while this page defines the estate-planning work within Matt’s practice.

Learn more about Matt, his principal practice areas, and the Delaware legal matters he handles.

About Matthew Carucci 

See the client situations most closely aligned with Matt’s probate, adult guardianship, and estate-planning practice.

See who Matt helps 

Matt represents executors, administrators, and family members responsible for handling Delaware estates.

Learn more about Matt’s probate administration practice 

Matt represents clients who need to establish legal authority for another adult through a Delaware guardianship proceeding.

Learn more about Matt’s adult guardianship practice 

If you need to create or update a will, are considering a trust, or want to understand how your estate plan may affect future probate, Matthew Carucci can help you evaluate the legal arrangements that apply to your situation.

Contact Matt to discuss your current plan, your objectives, and the appropriate next steps.