Having a proper estate plan is having legal documents that ensure your voice is heard even at a time you cannot speak, and your wishes honored exactly as you have instructed. Having an estate planning attorney help you draft your documents — will, trust, powers of attorney, advance healthcare directives — is the best way you can ensure your estate plan gives you utmost coverage for asset management and efficient disposal after death. When you attempt to do it yourself being not a legal professional, there is a greater chance that you would make mistakes which would become problematic to your surviving loved ones.
You can get help from an estate planning attorney near 11223 by calling our law office today.
Benefits of hiring an estate planning attorney
- He ensures your documents are compliant with state laws: Your estate planning attorney keeps up with the estate laws of the state and would ensure that your documents are properly drafted according to state laws. These laws often change, but working with an attorney gives you the peace of mind knowing you have professional and competent hands on deck.
- Professionally customize your documents: Wills are now downloadable online. You will be told about the requirements for validity, but be aware that you are left on your own to fill in the blanks. On the other hand, when you involve an attorney, he ensures that the will is professionally established and tailor-made specifically for your estate.
- Peace of mind that your documents say exactly what you mean: It is one thing to mean a thing, it is another thing to say it just as you mean. One major mistake people make is trying to write the terms of their documents themselves. Such terms are read with the eyes of the law. Your been unfamiliar with legal matters puts you in a wrong position to effectively write out these terms since you may mean one thing whereas legally speaking, it means something else. The worst thing is that these mistakes are most times realized when you’re gone, when they can no longer be remedied.
But your estate planning attorney will help you draft each document using the right terms such that accomplish your goals exactly as you desire.
- Your attorney helps you carry out updates when necessary: Your estate planning documents are not items you can just create once and for all. As life goes on, your situation most definitely would change: you may acquire new assets, go into a new marriage, have new kids, and experience the loss of a loved one whose name probably was in one of the documents. If your estate planning documents have already been prepared, your attorney would make periodical reviews to check if each document is still consistent with your present situation. If not, he would make the desired changes. A will can be amended by use of a codicil; the terms of a trust can be adjusted and new assets funded into it. Or in the case your estate becomes tax liable, your attorney may re-evaluate the whole estate plan with the aim of minimizing or avoiding your liabilities.
- Coordinating your documents: Many people wrongfully believe that wills and trusts ultimately cover all their assets but this is not so. These instruments can only address properties that are in your name only without any beneficiary designation or POD clauses. For example, you may have designated John as the beneficiary of your life insurance while creating it. If you forget that fact and later name Julian as the beneficiary in your will, the former would precede for such a discrepancy. Your estate planning attorney will revise your estate plan, retitle assets and beneficiary designations where necessary and make other recommendations to ensure your estate plan is holistic, coherent and solid.
- Your attorney becomes a trusted go-to for yourself and surviving loved ones: When you have an estate planning attorney working closely with you, they become a trusted source of knowledge to you and your family. Should you have any questions or your family run into a jam during your incapacity or death, your attorney can provide answers and explain the situation. Having first-hand knowledge of your estate plan, they are better equipped to assist your personal representative in administering and settling your estate.
Get help from an estate planning attorney near you
It goes without saying that your estate plan will be in the best hands when handled by an estate planning attorney. If you would like to get in touch with an estate planning attorney around 11223 Brooklyn, NY, kindly contact us.
