Estate planning is an important part of ensuring that your assets are passed on to your heirs in the way you want. It involves creating a comprehensive plan that includes a variety of documents and strategies. A trust is a legal agreement in which a trustee holds the assets of a grantor for the benefit of a beneficiary. Trusts are useful for estate planning because they can help keep your assets out of probate, which can be a time-consuming and costly process.
A trust can also set detailed rules for when and how beneficiaries receive their inheritance. A will is a public document after it is filed with the court. Similarly, if you are incapacitated, anyone who wants to manage your affairs must go to court to gain control of your assets. On the contrary, a trust can eliminate the need to create public records.
A comprehensive estate plan includes a specific plan for getting the treatment you would want when you can't make or communicate decisions, no matter how old you are. Without proper health care directives, you may not get the treatment you want. Designations of beneficiaries in things such as retirement accounts supersede any instruction in your will or trust. This is because assets that go to a designated beneficiary generally do not become part of your estate or trust.
They go directly to the beneficiary. Some of the most common documents include a last will and testament, a power of attorney, a living will, and a power of attorney for health care. Some people also need one or more trusts. Insurance policies could also have a place in your estate plan. The specific documents required depend on your circumstances. Living Wills, Health Care Representatives, & Advance Health Care Directives are all important elements of an estate plan.
Many people believe that having an estate plan simply means writing a will or trust. However, there is much more to include in your estate planning to ensure that all of your assets are seamlessly transferred to your heirs after your death. It is essential to draft a permanent power of attorney (POA), so that an agent or person you assign will act on your behalf when you are unable to do it yourself. In the absence of a power of attorney, you can let a court decide what happens to your assets if you are found to be mentally incompetent, and the court's decision may not be what you wanted. As noted above, several of your possessions can be passed to your heirs without being dictated by the will (for example, life insurance income, retirement plan accounts, and some annuities). That is why it is important to keep a payee and a contingent payee in such an account. Insurance plans must include a beneficiary and a contingent beneficiary, because they can also pass outside of a will.
Designated beneficiaries must be over 21 years of age and mentally competent. If they are not, a court may end up getting involved in the matter. A letter of intent is simply a document left to your executor or beneficiary. The purpose is to define what you want to do with a particular asset after its death or disability. Some letters of intent also provide details of the funeral or other special requests. A health care power of attorney (HCPA) designates another person (usually a spouse or family member) to make important health care decisions on your behalf in the event of a disability. An estate plan is a collection of documents and includes a will, guardianship designations, health care power of attorney, beneficiary designations, durable power of attorney, and a letter of personal intent describing your wishes should you die or become incapacitated. As estate planning lawyers, we know that our clients' goals are always to preserve their assets in a way that benefits them after retirement while at the same time keeping their loved ones when they are no longer here.
To achieve that, there are three dynamics that need to be addressed in order to have a more comprehensive long-term estate plan solution: tax planning, financial planning, and legal planning. Our team works closely with experts in the financial and tax sectors to provide complete service to our customers. The specific details related to trusts and wills also differ slightly from state to state, so be sure to talk to an estate planner to determine which option best suits your situation (and update it if you ever move to a new state).Whether you only need one estate planning document or all of them will depend on your specific situation. Once you've established it, plan to review your estate plan every three to five years or in the event of major life events (such as moving to another state or the death of family members), as modifications may be necessary. Whether you've already engaged the services of a financial advisor and are looking for an estate planning team or if tax advisors have advised you to consider additional guidance, it's really about building an effective team with the sole purpose of protecting your assets and getting the most out of your years of hard work. So clarify your state's guidelines and check with an estate planner about how often you should review.
