Estate Planning, Wills, and Trusts
An ESTATE PLAN may sound intimidating. It shouldn’t be. An estate plan is the process, during your life, of creating documents that will give guidance and directions to the management and disposal of your estate, during your life and after your death. It can protect your family and those that are important to you and take away the stress from them trying to determine what you would want if you haven’t left instructions. You can provide a guardian for your children and direct where you would like your property to go. It will reduce the time and expense of the probate process by being prepared. If you have already completed an estate plan or will, you should review it every year to make sure that it still fits your needs. With births, deaths, marriages, divorces, the changing value of your net worth, and changes in the law, an update may be in order.
WILL: A Will is the document that you leave that directs what you would like to do with your personal and real property. You can nominate the person that you would like to handle your affairs. This person is called a personal representative. If you have children, you can appoint a guardian for your minor children and indicate that money, property or other assets should be held in trust until they are at an age in which you would be comfortable with them inheriting your assets.
TRUST: A trust holds assets according to the directions you have created. You appoint a trustee to hold assets and administer them as you have indicated in the trust. There are many types of trusts which accomplish different purposes. A trust can help you avoid the probate process upon your death although you must make sure all assets are owned by the trust. A trust can provide privacy and protection of your assets and for your beneficiaries although trusts are more complicated and expensive to create and administer. Many people may think they need a trust, when a will is sufficient to meet their needs and goals. At Werth Law, we strive to find the most appropriate plan that fits your needs, but is not more than you need. We make sure it is a plan that you understand. We do not believe in ‘upselling’ plans that are more than what you need.