Estate planning in Whatcom County WA is the preparation of actions to handle a client’s financial situation in the event of their passing or disability. The planning includes the settlement of bequest taxation as well as the bequest of estates to heirs. The majority of estate plans are created with the aid of an Commercial Real Estate Lawyer Mississauga.
Wills, trusts, powers of attorney, health care or medical directives, and beneficiary designations are the five essential elements of a good estate plan. I’ll go through each of the five essential elements of estate planning in this blog.
Will
A will is a legally binding document that specifies who will inherit your assets after your passing. It designates an executor, the person in charge of carrying out the instructions. A will also designate one or more guardians to look after your young children or other dependents if you pass away or become unable to do so.
A will offers you control over your legacy, is straightforward to draught, and may be modified while you’re still alive. Learn about the laws of the specific will that apply in your state.
Trusts
A trust is a legitimate structure whereby a trustee retains legitimate title to the property for the benefit of one or more beneficiaries. A trust’s creator has control over how and when beneficiaries receive its assets.
There are many different kinds of trusts, but the following two are the most common:
Revocable trusts allow you to maintain control over all of the trust’s assets while having the flexibility to alter or cancel its rules at any moment.
An irrevocable trust has the advantage that appreciated assets in the trust are not subject to estate taxes. The assets in an irrevocable trust are no longer your property, and you typically cannot make changes to them without the beneficiary’s approval.
When deciding whether to put your assets into a trust, it’s important to bear in mind that assets held by trusts avoid probate, whereas assets not held by trusts are subject to it.
Authority of Attorney
If you become ill or disabled, the person you choose as your power of attorney will take over and manage your affairs. Your representative, the person you designate as power of attorney, has the authority to handle crucial financial decisions on your behalf. The power of Mississauga Business Lawyer might be general, allowing the designated representative to conduct any form of business, or explicit, limiting your agent’s authority to the specific transactions specified in the document.
If you are single, assigning a power of attorney is more important because a spouse would typically handle this. Without a designated power of attorney, a court will appoint a guardian on your behalf.
A medical directive or a directive on healthcare
Similar to a power of attorney, a healthcare directive names a person to make healthcare decisions on your behalf if you are unable to do so yourself. A healthcare directive consists of two primary documents:
A living will is a written declaration that specifies your medical care wishes if you suffer a serious illness.
a healthcare proxy, which names a person to make medical decisions on your behalf should you get ill.
Typically, family members will argue about what actions need to be made to take care of you. To ensure that your desires are carried out, it is helpful to have a medical services directive in place.
Designations of Beneficiaries
You should make sure your retirement plan beneficiary designations are current at the same time you create an estate plan. Who receives benefits after your death is determined by your beneficiary designations. You must regularly examine your beneficiary selections since they supersede your will (in some measure every year).
The inclusion of these five elements in your estate planning is only the first step in ensuring that all of your desires will be carried out when the time comes. Because of this, it is very important to establish an annual maintenance schedule and regularly check each document with your Oklahoma City estate planning attorney to make sure everything is up to current.
