Estate Planning as a Career

Many people wonder if they really need a will. They may think that they don’t have enough assets to bother with a will. Some people erroneously believe that a will causes your heirs to have to go through probate, leading to unnecessary expenses. However, a will is a good idea for just about everyone. Read on for some of the reasons to have a will.

A will is a document in which a person declares what he wants done with his property at the time of his death. A will has no effect until the person who wrote it, known as the testator, dies. The testator can also revoke a will at any time prior to his death.

If you die without a will, the state will distribute your property to your heirs according to the state’s intestacy statutes. The statutes might call for a distribution that is similar to what you want. Then again, maybe they won’t.

State intestacy laws will provide how the sum total of your property is to be divided among your heirs. It can’t provide for who will get certain specific items of your property. This can lead to many problems. Your heirs may not agree on who will get certain items of your personal property. For example, say you have inherited your grandmother’s wedding ring and intend to pass it on to your daughter. If you die without a will saying that is what you want, your son may feel very strongly that his wife should have it. So even if you don’t have a lot of assets, you may be concerned about making sure that certain items of your property go to the people that you want it to. You can do this with a will.

Another misconception about having a will is the idea that having a will causes your heirs to have to go through probate, and that it will be difficult and expensive. If you die without a will, the court is still going to have to oversee the distribution of your assets to your heirs. There is absolutely no (more…)

Trust and Estates is a rapidly growing area of practice in the law that includes estate planning, managing your estate during life and disposing of your estate at your death through the use of trusts, wills and other planning documents.

Learn About Distinctive Legal Practice Areas.

You can easily become familiar with the different practice areas to determine the type of lawyer who will work best on your legal matter. For the purpose of asset protection and estate planning you will need a lawyer well versed in Trusts and Estates.

You will want to hire an attorney who regularly handles matters in the areas of concern in your particular situation, and who will know enough about other fields to question whether the action being taken might be affected by the laws in other areas of law. For example, if you’re going to rewrite your will and your spouse is ill, the estate planner needs to know enough about Medicaid to advise you about whether it’s an issue with regard to your spouse’s inheritance.

Unfortunately, there are some attorneys who hold themselves out as experts in trusts and estates, but who have little or no experience in this area of practice. They recognize that the aging America represents a business opportunity for them and they hope to “cash in”. So you will want to be particularly careful in narrowing down your selection of a trust and estate planning attorney.

Finding a lawyer may be easier than you think. Creditable and trustworthy resources are already available to you on the Internet. For instance, lawyers.com offers a complete database of lawyers sorted geographically and by expertise.

Finding a Lawyer May Seem Like a Monumental Task.

You’re already anxious because you have a legal problem. A creditor may have sued you or you may have been injured in an auto accident. Perhaps you want to start (more…)

Second marriages in Florida create a number of issues that, if not properly addressed, could make a shambles of your estate plan.

It is very common for a widow or widower to remarry. Most of these persons still plan to leave their estate to their children from the first marriage. Their trusts and wills distribute all of their assets to the children, so they see no need to change their estate planning.

However, Florida law has provisions designed to protect a surviving spouse (including a second spouse) which override the terms of a person’s estate planning documents. If you are in a second marriage and wish to protect your children’s inheritance, you must address these laws in your estate planning documents.

The first potential minefield is the elective share. Under the Florida Elective Share law, a surviving spouse is entitled to at least 30% of the deceased spouse’s estate. This means 30% of all property owned individually by the deceased spouse, 30% of all property in the deceased spouse’s revocable trust and 30% of the decedent’s share of property owned jointly with another person.

Under the Elective Share law, the surviving spouse can elect to claim his or her right to this share.

Now, you may say, “I know my husband/wife and we agreed that neither of us would take anything from the other’s estate.” Even if this is true, the possibility exists that your surviving spouse may not be the one making the decision. If your spouse is incapacitated at the time of your death, all of his or her decisions would be made by the person appointed in a power of attorney or by a guardian. In either case, it is likely to be a family member of your spouse.

That family member or guardian may reason that your spouse will need the elective share to pay for his or her care.

Despite what you and your spouse talked about, they h (more…)