ESTATE PLANNING

 Estate planning is a beneficial tool that allows you to arrange your estate should you become disabled or pass on. The process can help your surviving family members avoid misunderstandings, avoid unnecessary court expenses, and attorney fees. By thoroughly working out a proper estate plan, you could safeguard your loved ones’ rights to your estate and make they inherit your assets in the event of your death.

Estate planning is recommended for all ages, no matter the amount of property and wealth you own. During this process it is strongly imperative to obtain a qualified attorney who can inform you of important information as well as provide valid advice and assistance. At Abel Law Group, we can guide you through the process, ensuring your estate and family’s inheritance are secure. The biggest problem we see with various “estate planning practitioners” is they either try to oversell their clients with estate planning tools that they do not need or worse yet, charge them thousands of dollars to draft a plan but fail to advise the client how to implement it. We see so many people each year where their counsel failed to even take the basic step of putting their principal residence into their trust or to instruct them how their basic financial accounts should be owned.  

What is involved in an estate plan?

Estate planning generally involves the drafting of Wills, Trusts, Power of Attorney’s, Living Wills, and other types of planning documents. Our firm can help you complete various documents that are designed to protect your final wishes and the interests of your loved ones.

Some of the elements involved in estate planning include the following:

This document helps you name any heirs you want to inherit part of your estate.  A will can also include other information and may be updated or modified at any time. Everyone, at a minimum, needs a will. Without a will, the state gets to direct who gets your assets, and if you have children, who gets custody of them. If you have a will, you can make these decisions. If you have a trust, you still need a will to make sure that if you did forget to include an asset into your trust, we can get it there. 

In this document you can spell out just how you want your assets to be disbursed upon your demise. In addition, unlike a will, you can put parameters on its disposition such as restricting the ability of creditors, or even beneficiaries, to attach or squander your assets. The most important reason for having a trust is to avoid the time an expense related to the probating of a will. Avoiding probate can save thousand or even tens of thousands of dollars in legal and probate fees and avoid your assets being tied up and unavailable to your heirs for months or even years.

A Power of Attorney allows you to appoint an agent to manage your finances if you were to become incapacitated.  You can either appoint someone to act immediately, or such as a spouse, other family member, or friend, or you can make the power "springing" which means they can only act if your doctor certifies you cannot act for yourself. 

A Durable Healthcare Power of Attorney allows you to appoint someone, and not the court, to make medical decisions on your behalf should you be unable to do so,  

Through a Living Will / Advanced Directive, you can let everyone know the care you wish should you not be able to do so. If your medical professionals certify that your condition will never improve, that you will never wake up, or be able to communicate again, you can choose the care you want to prolong your life, or let nature take its course.  This relieves your loved ones from needing to make these tough decisions.  

Reach Out to Us for Trusted Support

Don’t have an estate plan in place yet? We encourage you to take action to protect your family, assets, and well-being. At Abel Law Group, we help you craft an estate plan that is personalized to your goals and wishes. Our estate planning lawyers take the time to understand your wishes and goals and can help guide you in the right direction for your plan.