Through estate planning, you can help prepare yourself and your family for an uncertain future. Indeed, the estate planning process allows you to make your wishes known about end-of-life care, and how you’d like to be treated should you become medically incapacitated. It lays out your desires for how your physical assets should be distributed following your death, and lets you name the person you’d like to take care of your kids should both you and your partner die at the same time. An effective estate plan will also allow you to safeguard your assets from onerous taxation, ensuring your heirs receive as much value as possible.
All of this is highly important, and it can also be very complex. That’s why it’s often prudent to work with an estate planning attorney. In this post, we’ll outline some specific benefits that come from hiring an estate planning lawyer.
Reasons to Enlist an Estate Planning Law Firm
Estate planning attorneys can help you manage complicated finances or tangled family dynamics.
For some individuals, the estate planning process might be rather straightforward. For others, however, it can be complicated. Here are just some of the issues that can compound the difficulty of your estate planning efforts:
- You’ve been married more than once.
- You own real estate in multiple states.
- You own your own business.
- You have family members who are disabled.
- Your kids are still minors.
- You wish to leave assets to a charity or non-profit.
- You’ve recently gotten divorced.
- You have substantial assets in a retirement account, such as an IRA or 401(k).
Any of these factors will complicate your estate plans, and it’s prudent to seek a legal expert to help you sort things out.
You’ll need more than just a will.
A lot of individuals assume that all they need for effective estate planning is a will, and that they can simply draft a will all on their own, perhaps using forms they find online.
Very rarely is a will sufficient, however. For one thing, a will probably won’t keep your assets out or probate court. For that, you’ll need to set up a trust, which is much more complicated than just drafting a will.
You may also wish to set up a living will, a durable power of attorney, and other key documents.
Speaking more broadly, estate planning needs can vary greatly from one person to the next, and you’ll want to work with an estate planning lawyer to be sure you’re taking all the right steps to safeguard your legacy and your future.
Working with a seasoned estate planning law firm can save you time and money.
One more reason why you might want to work with a professional? It will make the entire process much more efficient.
For one thing, estate planning isn’t just about creating some documents and then setting them aside. It’s wise to review and revise those documents annually, ensuring they reflect your current wishes and family dynamics. That can be a lot of work, but your attorney can handle the brunt of it for you.
Also note that, while there is an expense associated with estate planning attorneys, you can ultimately avoid a lot of heavy estate taxes… meaning you’ll save money in the long run.
More than anything else, you may benefit simply from having someone to do the legwork and fill out the forms for you, freeing you to focus on other valuable activities.
Ready to partner with an esteemed estate planning law firm? Reach out to the Singh Law Firm team at your next convenience.
