“Though your Last Will and Testament is the most important component of your estate plan, proper estate planning is more than writing a will. A proper estate plan should minimize applicable taxes and fees while ensuring that all assets are passed on according to your wishes. The plan should also establish documented parameters to make sure your wishes are known regarding health care treatment and how your affairs are handled in the event you become incapacitated.” – Ryan S. McBride

In order to properly define the term “estate planning”, we must first determine what an estate is. Estates aren’t just for the rich and famous. Everyone has an estate but no two are exactly the same. Simply put, an estate comprises all the things you own (real estate, business interests, bank accounts, investments, personal items) and all the things you owe (mortgages, consumer debt, judgments). Proper estate planning inventories all these items and sets out a method for their distribution upon your death.

Who Needs Estate Planning?

You should have an estate plan if you want to:

1. Make things simple for your loved ones to inherit your assets and you want to control who benefits from your estate after you die.
2. Minimize tax liabilities when you die.
3. Control who your executor will be to oversee the distribution of your estate to your loved ones.
4. Avoid the depletion of your estate from the cost of long term care in a nursing home.
5. Control who raises your minor children if you die while your children are still young
6. Make certain that your child’s inheritance is divorce-proof
7. Take advantage of a simplified probate procedure that can save your heirs time, effort and money after you die

Getting Started

Getting started with your estate plan is easy. At our initial consultation we’ll complete your confidential Estate Planning Questionnaire. This will allow me to get some basic information about you and your family. From there we will discuss your objectives and then we will discuss those strategies I believe will be necessary to accomplish those objectives.

Thank you for choosing me to help you accomplish this important task.

Your Estate Planning Portfolio

While every estate plan is different, and your estate plan will be customized to meet your specific estate planning objectives, the estate planning services provided to you should include the following:

Last Will and Testament or Revocable Living Trust w/ Pour Over Will

This may be the most important legal document you ever sign. In your Last Will and Testament, you will provide for the disposition of all of the assets that you own when you die. You will designate your executor and you may even include a testamentary trust for the benefit of your spouse, your children, or others. Your last will and testament may include provisions to minimize or avoid death taxes, or you may provide for the “back-up parents” for your children if you die before your children reach the age of majority. You may provide further provisions in your last will and testament to make your children’s inheritance divorce-proof, so they do not have to split it with your ex-daughter-in-law or ex-son-in-law if your children get divorced after receiving their inheritance.

Financial Durable Power of Attorney

This important legal document authorizes another to act for you in the event of your incapacity. If you fail to sign a properly prepared durable power of attorney, the court will appoint a guardian (or “Curator”) for you if you can’t handle your affairs for yourself during your lifetime.

Health Care Power of Attorney

Prepare your Health Care Power of Attorney. This legal document authorizes another to make important medical decisions for you if you are unable to make your own medical decisions.

Living Will

Prepare your Living Will. Also known as your “Declaration,” your living will expresses your intentions regarding the withdrawal of life support systems if you are in a profound vegetative state with no chance of recovery.

Letter of Last Instruction

While not an official legal document of your estate plan, the Letter of Last Instruction may prove to be the most important document to your executor. This document will serve as your succession representative’s road map to all assets and debts you leave behind as well as all your final affairs that require attention. Settling the estate of a deceased loved one can be a stressful undertaking. My goal in providing this document is to help my clients help their loved ones in their time of sorrow.

Customized Beneficiary Designations

Certain assets you own, such as Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), 401(k) accounts, annuities, and life insurance policies, are passed along at your death to the designated beneficiaries you name on your Beneficiary Designation Form. Due to the complexity of estate planning, you’ll want to make certain that I assist you in properly designating your beneficiaries on these types of accounts.

Trusts

There are many different types of trusts. Common trusts include testamentary trusts, revocable living trusts, special needs trusts, and irrevocable life insurance trusts. Use of any of these different types of trusts must be evaluated on a case by case basis. Through the course of preparing your Estate Planning Portfolio I will determine whether the use of a trust may be of benefit to you.

To start your estate planning process, contact us at 504-265-1705 now or request a consultation