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Estate Planning – What is Estate Planning

The advantages of an estate plan!

Estate planning is a process of taking inventory of one’s wealth and designating how your financial and personal matters should be handled when you are gone or incapacitated. 

When you plan your estate, you take a look at your wealth and your family’s needs, then state your wishes of who should get what and when. You also leave a plan for your children’s care.

Estate Planning and Why it’s essential!

We’ve heard many horror stories about people with money who died without leaving a financial legacy behind, leaving their loved ones pitted against each other on who should get what. These fights are sometimes ugly and public; sometimes, they even end up in court, costing your loved ones thousands of dollars in court and attorney fees. Things will be difficult for your loved ones even if you leave a big bank!

Estate planning is a smart way of preventing family disputes over a deceased’s wealth. It ensures who gets what portion of the wealth you worked hard to amass.  Is an estate attorney necessary?  Most people say absolutley yes!

Now, you don’t have to be of significant wealth to plan your estate.

Estate planning is for everyone.

Everyone has something, whether in stocks, real estate, hedge funds, derivatives, gold, personal business, or bitcoin! As you age, things slow down, and your health deteriorates. Death is a matter of when not if. But before that, you may even become incapacitated. And just what do you think will happen to your assets when you are gone or legally incapable? It’s hard to think about it, but the surest way to maintain control over your wealth even after you’re gone is to leave guidelines. That means doing comprehensive estate planning.

People make a lot of excuses for not planning their estate. Sometimes it’s ignorance; other times, it is pride or denial that there’s still time. But life is full, not short of surprises and unpredictable events. Someday someone different will need to take over your personal and financial matters. Leave them a guideline.

Estate planning doesn’t have to be costly.

Even if you can’t afford a comprehensive estate plan, you can start with a simple, affordable plan such as a will, trust, power of attorney, and term life insurance with plans to reassess the platform later as your financial situation changes.

An experienced estate planning lawyer can help you plan your estate; they will look into your financial situation, family needs and advise on a suitable plan. They will also help with the preparation of documents to protect your assets against taxes and lawsuits. These include titles, last will and testament, power of attorney, advance directives, and living will and trusts.

So, no more excuses to avoid planning your estate. Estate planning is a necessary process and simple with the help of an experienced estate planning attorney.

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Advantages of estate planning include:

  • Reducing taxes: indeed, the common goal of planning one’s estate is so that your loved ones don’t drown in tax expenses. That means not leaving your wealth unprotected from the IRS. It also means not just transferring assets to heirs without considering the tax burden it’s going to create for them. You can also set up trusts to reduce or avoid estate taxes.
  • Protecting beneficiaries. The common goal of estate planning is designating beneficiaries and or heirs to avoid probate, where your surviving loved ones have to depend on court rulings on who should get what. Probate litigations take years and cost a lot of money.
  • Protect your children by naming guardians and stating how they should care for them before they turn 18.
  • Eliminating family squabbles. Choosing who will take over your responsibility and designating heirs ensures a smooth transition when you die or become incapacitated.

Estate planning basics

Every estate planning starts with a will or living trust. But while wills and trusts designate asset sharing and who should be in charge, they are not the same.

What is a will?

A will is a document that designates asset sharing and should be in charge of a person’s assets until their final distribution. A will is recognized under the law. But a will won’t help avoid probate. All assets in your name should go through their jurisdiction’s probate process before they can be distributed to heirs. Jointly-owned properties are excluded from probate.

What is a trust?

A trust is a relationship between three individuals where one party (trustee) holds the legal titles to the properties of another’s (grantor) for the advantage of a third party (beneficiaries). Transferring your assets in a trust, primarily an irrevocable trust, covers them from creditors’ claims and legal rulings.

But this is just simple estate planning; to avoid blunders, you have to go beyond who should get what and when stipulation. Good estate planning is comprehensive in its instructions, directives, and plans to minimize expenses and family disputes.

The complete estate planning checklist: How to come up with a comprehensive estate plan

  • Take stock of everything you own
  • Include life insurance, disability income insurance, and long-term care
  • Include a guardian and inheritance manager for kids under 18
  • Include your child-rearing goals and ideals
  • Include medical care, power of attorney, and other legal directives
  • Organize records, correct titles and heir designations 
  • Provide for loved one’s with special needs
  • Protect loved ones from future creditors
  • Reassess the plan 

Wrapping up

Estate plans are beneficial. You will state who gets what and when but when you plan your estate, you will maintain control over it even in your death. You will also reduce tax, court fees, and needless legal expenses at a minimum. An estate plan also helps avoid family disputes over who should get what after you are gone.

Do you need the services of an estate planning attorney in California? From helping with last will and testament, power of attorney, living will and trusts, and advance directives to Medicaid planning, long-term care, and watching over your finances, we are experienced estate planning attorneys. Indeed, we have worked with various California families and helped them organize their estate and administer their wealth to beneficiaries and or heirs. Contact us to talk about your estate planning needs further.

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