Legal Documents For Estate Planning
Listen you know you can get almost anything you want on the internet. Everything from Kobe beef steaks to Babe Ruth collector baseball cards. And of course you can get all the legal documents you think you will ever need. However, some legal work is not cut out for online consultation.
You have probably heard of a living trust. You perhaps receive direct mail from attorneys promoting their estate planning seminars. Today those estate planning lawyers compete with websites offering estate planning kits in a box for under one hundred dollars. Why pay seven hundred and fifty dollars to have a lawyer do what in can do for under a hundred some say as they click the submit to order button.
Probate can take from six months to in some cases two years to complete. There are legal fees involved and also court costs. And realize that even if you have a will your estate will have to go through the probate process. So your best plan is to prepare a living trust.
Before you order it and start checking the boxes and putting the form into your safe deposit box, you have realize there is more to a living trust than printing out forms and checking boxes. There have been several probate judges and probate lawyers who simply sigh and shake their heads when heirs to the deceased present such a pile of forms in court expecting to walk away with the estate of the box checker.
The law is full of details. Details are what need to make it all legal. One detail many forget or do not realize about a living trust is that property, both real and personal, must be transferred into the trust. This is not necessarily a difficult task but if not done properly the trust is not a legal document, it is a worthless piece of paper.
By the way a living trust is a better option than only having a will. A will is subject to probate in certain instances. Probate is a costly process and can take anywhere from six months to three years to complete, depending on the court’s calendar. Also, when your estate is in probate and is open to the public. So any creditors to your estate have a public invitation to come and take. A living trust, properly prepared, is private not open to the public. Also, there is no probate required, again if prepared correctly.
Do you have a taxable estate? Do you know what a taxable estate is? The law in this area changes regularly and you need an expert to help keep you up on this area of law. If your estate is subject to estate tax, there are ways to help your heirs from having to part with your estate to pay the government the taxes they demand. One way is to have a life insurance trust in place. You need a lawyer and a life insurance agent to work on this for you.
You would not buy a book or go online for a do it yourself surgery kit. No, you would want a medical professional to treat you.
Without the correct preparation and transfer of property to the estate the living trust is only a piece of paper not a legal document. Yes, it costs money to hire an attorney to prepare your estate plan. But in the end it will actually save your heirs time and money when it is time for them to take possession of what you intend them to receive at the time of your passing. And you will have peace of mind now knowing your estate plan is in order.
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