Making a good estate plan is synonymous to securing your future. That statement alone tells you how important estate planning is. However, regardless of how crucial this plan is in the modern world we find ourselves, there are still lots of people out there who fail to secure their future and those of their loved ones by leveraging this plan.
In fact, based on research, about 71% Americans are yet to plan their estate while about 55% American have died without making an estate plan. Also, 74% of Americans view estate planning as a confusing topic.
What is Estate Planning?
It is important that you have little knowledge of what an estate plan is before you consider planning one. You can’t plan something you know nothing about, right? So, what is really the estate planning that people talk about?
Estate planning is basically plans made to take care of ones estate after his or her death. This plan covers:
- The distribution of the deceased assets
- The creation of important estate planning documents like trust, power of attorney
- The management of the deceased assets
- The payment of estate taxes and unpaid debts
- Creation of a will
It is not surprising that about 74% of Americans find estate planning confusing. I bet it’s because whoever talked to them about it, wasn’t quite clear. So, if you fall among the category of people who find this topic hard to understand, below are some simple steps for estate planning. Hopefully, when you get to the end of this article, you’ll find this topic as interesting as your favorite novel.
Steps For Your Estate Planning
Somewhere, you may have heard of how important estate planning is. Or probably someone told you of how crucial it is to plan your estate. But you don’t know what an estate plan covers neither do you have the slightest idea of how to make one. Below is a basic list of the most significant estate planning issues you should take a look at.
Draft a Will
A will is a very important component of an estate plan. This legal document comprises of your wishes regarding your estate, including the name of the estate beneficiaries and executor of your estate.
To draft a will, you will require the help of an estate planning lawyer. You can contact us when ready and we will provide you with the best estate planning lawyer for your estate.
Create a Trust
A trust is simply a legal vehicle used in the transfer of assets. The trustor gives the trustee the right to hold the transferred assets for the benefit of a third party (beneficiary).
This legal document is key to creating an ideal estate plan. By creating a trust, you can save your loved ones the stress of passing through the difficult probate process. A trust lawyer or an estate planning lawyer can help you prepare this document.
Create health care directives
A health care directive can protect you in the event that you aren’t able to make certain health decisions yourself. This document is an important component of estate planning, thus, when creating an estate plan it is crucial that you state your wishes for health care.
A health care directive comes with a health care declaration, which is also known as a living will, Including a power of attorney for health care which gives someone designated by you the right to make those medical decisions for you.
Financial power of attorney
A financial power of attorney provides you with the opportunity to give a trusted person the right to oversee your finances and properties in the event that you become incapacitated. The person chosen is usually regarded as an agent or an attorney-in-fact. It is not necessary that you select an attorney as your attorney-in-fact. You can simply select someone who is genuine, familiar with your family, and trustworthy.
Safeguard your children’s property
You can designate an individual (adult) who will manage your assets of properties your little children may inherit from you. You can create a trust to this effect. The persons chosen here can be the same person you designated as the personal guardian of you minor children.
