Types of Estate Planning Documents

To learn more about estate planning, check out our free resource: A Guide to Estate and Estate Planning. In today`s digital world, it`s important to include provisions for your digital assets when planning your estate. Digital assets may include: If you become unable to work and cannot make your own medical decisions, a living will ensures that your last wishes are met. Of all your estate planning documents, a living will (DI) is one of the most important. If you have questions about creating an estate plan, contact us today. Brette Sember, J.D. practiced law in New York City, including divorce, mediation, family law, adoption, probate and estates. Read More Let`s review some key estate planning documents to better understand how they might fit into your plan. A will, also known as a will, is a document containing instructions on how to distribute the assets in your estate after your death. These documents can also achieve personal goals, such as appointing a guardian for minor children. To prepare for events other than death, you will likely need to create additional documents, including: Estate planning is a complicated process that goes beyond making a will. If you want to make sure all your last wishes are respected, you need these nine essential estate planning documents.

Your estate planning documents are essential to settling your estate, including the estate. Estate planning isn`t just about deciding how to divide your estate when you die. It is also about ensuring that your family members and other beneficiaries are taken care of and have access to your assets after your temporary or permanent incapacity for work. A will is one of the most important estate planning documents because it outlines your last wishes. If you have property or property that you would like to bequeath to family, friends or charities, you can express those wishes in your will. Here are some basic estate planning considerations for all women, whether you are single, married, have children or not. This document can give your agent the power to make real estate, conduct financial transactions, and make other legal decisions as if it were you. This type of power of attorney can be revoked by the client at a time of their choosing, usually at a time when the client is deemed physically capable or mentally capable, or after their death. Also known as a revocable living trust, it is a legal document created during your lifetime that allows assets to be transferred into a trust for your beneficiaries without having to go through probate court proceedings.

There is no asset size threshold before you can create a living trust. However, it is more commonly used by individuals and families with large, complex estates and multiple beneficiaries. After your death, the trustee – the person you choose to manage the trust – distributes the assets to the beneficiaries of your choice. A living trust is private and does not go through probate court. Your estate saves the time and costs associated with probate procedures and instead distributes assets immediately if you wish. For a printable checklist of all the documents you might need to collect, see our resource checklist: Documents to organize and share. Who inherits your estate not only depends on what you leave in your will, but state law can void certain provisions of your will. Find out what your rights are and how you can protect your estate. Medical living wills can contain different types of medical instructions, and different state laws use different terms, including: Different estate planning documents require you to collect different types of information. Below are typical legal and financial accounts and the types of documents you should gather to be best organized. A simple oversight can cost your estate thousands of dollars in estate fees or create unnecessary tax obligations for your beneficiaries. The best course of action is to prepare your estate planning documents with an experienced probate attorney in Florida.

A basic understanding of key estate planning documents is essential. This knowledge can help you uncover the opportunities and gaps in your plan, and it will give you a foundation when discussing these issues with an estate planning lawyer. Trust-based planning usually makes more sense when your situation is complicated enough to justify the cost and effort of creating and funding a trust.