Your estate includes everything you own that has a value attached to it. It’s the equity in your home, your savings and retirement accounts, and even the assets in your stock portfolio. A thorough estate plan can help ensure your affairs are handled as you wish – and may even save your family money in taxes, fees, and court costs.
Health Care Surrogate
A healthcare surrogate is someone who can make healthcare decisions on your behalf if you are incapacitated. It can include the ability to withhold life-extending treatment or end-of-life decisions. Anyone with assets should consider establishing a formal estate plan. Contrary to popular belief, estate planning is for more than just the wealthy. Regardless of your situation, an estate planning lawyer in Sacramento can help you safeguard a brighter future for yourself and your loved ones. Common mistakes like failing to name contingent beneficiaries or neglecting to update documents regularly can have devastating consequences. Trust an estate planning lawyer to guide you through this complex process.
Estate
A person’s estate is everything they own with value, including a home, cars, investments, property, land, and buildings; personal belongings, like a collection of stuffed raccoons; and even a person’s debt. A set of procedures known as an estate plan assists in administrating a person’s assets and debts in the case of their demise or incapacitation. It also saves beneficiaries significant taxes, fees, and court costs. A well-planned estate can reduce conflicts and disputes between family members. It can also quell arguments about who deserves what. In addition, an estate plan can make the process of transferring assets easy.
Will
Everybody who wants to specify how they want their assets distributed after death should have a will. However, the estate planning process goes far beyond just a Will. It helps ensure that your family members are taken care of. It enables you to reduce tax transfers and help your family avoid expensive court battles over the estate. It also gives you the power to choose who manages your finances and property in case of temporary or permanent incapacity. It can stop arguments over dividing an inheritance or preventing a child from being removed from the family. You can also designate a trustworthy individual as your proxy when making healthcare decisions.
Trust
Distributing an individual’s assets to their heirs will follow their final desires. Using a trust can help to avoid the probate process, saving time and money for family members after death. It is a good idea to review and update your estate plan regularly. Major life events such as births, deaths of loved ones, and marriages may change the need or scope of your project. Regardless of one’s wealth, everyone needs an estate plan. It includes listing all assets, including home equity and cash, and establishing how they should be transferred to loved ones after death. It also involves limiting taxes through the use of trusts and charitable donations.
Durable Power of Attorney
While some people think estate planning is expensive, complicated, and only for the rich, the opposite is true. Even a simple estate plan can go a long way in settling arguments about what should be done with your assets after you die or become incapacitated. Should you become incapacitated, a durable power of attorney appoints a representative to handle financial and legal decisions on your behalf. It can be combined with a healthcare power of attorney or proxy. A properly drafted plan will communicate your wishes and help ensure that your heirs pay less in taxes, fees, and court costs.
Health Care Proxy
A healthcare proxy (also called a durable power of attorney for healthcare) is an advance directive that enables you to choose a representative to make medical decisions. Your proxy can also include special instructions and a statement that you want to be an organ donor. Not just family members can serve as your healthcare agent; anyone you trust to carry out your wishes can serve as your agent. However, they should be comfortable making difficult decisions and standing up for their rights. You can change your healthcare proxy at any time. Just be sure to notify your agent, medical team, and other family members of the change.
Living Will
Estate planning involves more than just designating your heirs to your money, assets, and belongings. It also involves deciding on a successor to manage your affairs in the event of a temporary or permanent incapacitation. Probate can be avoided, taxes can be reduced, and disagreements among heirs can be avoided with the aid of an estate plan. It can help you determine how much to give each beneficiary, including special needs children. It can also set up trusts to pay debt, avoiding or decreasing the taxes your heirs may have to pay. An attorney and tax advisor can help you understand your options and the possible implications of each.
Guardianship
Legal guardianship is the process of designating someone in your will to become legally responsible for the children named in the will if both parents die before the child reaches age 18. It is also called conservatorship. In addition to being a vital part of any estate plan, guardianships can help quell family strife and prevent arguments over money that may arise after death. Having a plan helps ensure that the person under guardianship gets to keep their unique characteristics and has an active role in planning for the future. The guardian must keep detailed financial records so that friends and family can verify that the person is well cared for.
