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What is Estate Planning?

Estate Planning allows you to make well-informed, careful decisions about what happens to your assets when you die. Estate planning can include the allocation of financial resources, the documentation of wishes regarding medical life-saving measures, and it enables you to establish and provide direction to the caregivers you would choose to raise your children.

Common Estate Planning Documents

Among the most commonly utilized – and important – estate planning documents are:

Will or Trust – a will is a document that describes how you want your assets allocated. If your financial assets are substantial, a trust is often the more appropriate document, because it helps minimize estate taxes and can help avoid probate, making any property transfer easier for your beneficiaries.
Living will – a living will is a document that communicates which medical treatment you wish to receive if you are in a terminal state and cannot speak or otherwise communicate.
Powers of attorney – powers of attorney can be written for health care or financial needs, and are documents that designate a specific person to make decisions on your behalf if you become unable to do so yourself.

Other Estate Planning Needs

While most people think of estate planning as exclusively financial, a well-executed estate plan takes into account all potential needs that would arise in the future. Some of the other issues that an estate plan may also cover include:

Divorce – divorce can make the division of your assets complicated if there are shared assets involved or minor children whose inheritance might be managed by the other spouse. An estate planning attorney can work with you to ensure that any money set aside for inheritance is placed into a protected trust for your children, and not your former spouse.
Children- An estate planning attorney can help you establish who should care for your children, as well as college trusts and other financial assets designed to provide for your children.
Family Disputes/Issues – sometimes, an estate plan causes contention among beneficiaries – or those who feel they should have been included as beneficiaries. A well-designed plan will protect your intentions by clearly establishing how you wish your assets to be divided.
Estate Tax Strategies – beneficiaries may be left struggling to pay the estate taxes on the money they inherit. An experienced estate planning attorney can help design a plan that minimizes the financial obligation on your family and maximizes their benefit.
Succession Planning – For those who own family businesses, success planning allows you to decide, in advance, about how you’d want the business managed upon your retirement or death. An estate planning attorney can help by reviewing your business needs and goals for the future, and working with you to put in place a solid succession plan to ensure your business’ success for years to come.