4 Tips For Getting Started On Your Estate Planning
When you decide that you have a need to begin estate planning, you want to be sure that you have an estate planning attorney by your side. From here, you can begin your estate planning, which will consist of putting some documents together as well as making some really important decisions. Here are four tips that can help you get started on this:
- Put Together a List of Assets: Putting together a list of your assets, as well as liabilities, is going to help your attorney determine whether or not you have a taxable estate. This is also going to help determine whether or not your loved ones will have a difficult time paying off your debt once you have passed. If the debt is overwhelming, then your attorney will help you to put together a plan that will help you lessen the burden left on your family.
- Choose Who Will Receive Your Assets: In most cases, the person who receives your assets would be your spouse, unless your spouse waived the right to it. You cannot cut your spouse from receiving your assets, though, if they did not waive this right. If your spouse is going to receive your assets, then the only choice you will need to make is determining who would receive your assets if your spouse were to pass before you.
- Choose How Assets Will be Received: There are two ways in which you can organize how your beneficiaries will receive your assets. One way that they will receive it is all at once or the other is through a trust. With a trust, you can decide if the assets should stay in the trust until the beneficiary has reached a certain age, and then they will receive it all at once or you can decide that they can receive a certain amount of it each year for the rest of their lifetime.
- Choose Someone to Take Charge: If you become disabled in the future and are unable to make decisions regarding your estate plan, then you will want to have someone who you can trust who is able to take charge. This person should make decisions for you that they feel would be in your best interest. You should choose two or three people you would want to do this in case something happens to one of them or they decide that they do not feel comfortable being put in this position.
These four tips that can help you get started will ensure that the rest of your estate planning goes smoothly since the most important decisions will already be made.
For professional help with estate planning, contact an attorney such as Lisa Cappolella Attorney at Law.
Share
