Protect What’s Yours: 8 Useful Estate Planning Vehicles to Help You Preserve Your Wealth for Your Loved Ones
When starting with your estate planning, you will definitely want to get help from a qualified elder law attorney. Prior to this, however, it can be helpful to learn about the different estate planning tools and vehicles that may be right for you. Read on to get a nice overview of eight of the most useful, and effective, estate planning vehicles available today. While they may not all be right for you, it is always helpful to know your options.
Last Will & Testament
For most people, a Last Will and Testament is the right place to start with estate planning. In fact, a Will is something people should have in place pretty much from the moment they become adults, or at least once they get married or have children. Over the years, Wills can be updated and changed to reflect your position in life. For people with modest estates, a Will may actually be one of the only estate planning documents that they need. Once an estate gets sufficiently large, however, it will almost always be smart to add additional options to your portfolio. Knowing when a Will is enough, and when you will need something more, is an important conversation to have with your estate planning advisor or attorney.
Living Trust
Once someone ‘outgrows’ a Will, they will typically start using a Living Trust. A trust is a legal contract that you put your assets into. The trust then holds the title, and retains control, of all of the assets within it. During your life, you will then retain control of the Living Trust, which means you can still control the assets. To put it simply, the Living Trust is a ‘middleman’ for your assets. The biggest advantage to having a Living Trust is that they typically don’t need to go through the probate process when you die. Instead, the trust will immediately transfer to the person or people that you have identified. This can save your loved one months of hassle, and thousands of dollars. It can also help to keep your estate private, which is important to many people.
Durable Power of Attorney
Giving someone Durable Power of Attorney will allow that person to make decisions concerning your estate when certain conditions are met. Some people grant a trusted loved one with Durable Power of Attorney immediately, with the understanding that they will only use the authority when necessary. Others setup their Durable Power of Attorney to only become active should they become disabled, go missing, or have certain other conditions be met. You should have a General Durable Power of Attorney to take care of your finance and real-estate matters and a Health Care Power of Attorney for your medical concerns.