Estate Litigation Attorney O’Fallon MO
When you are creating your estate plan and are concerned about what things in your plan people may argue over, you should speak with our estate litigation attorney in O’Fallon, MO. Who likes to discuss the topic of death and dying? Not that many people. However, since death is an inevitability of life, it is necessary to at least consider that final transition from breathing to the unknown. The fact is, life is a journey of accumulation. You spend every day working towards greater goals, buying a car, a house, investing your hard-earned dollars. However, in the end, what happens to your gains? Who gets to benefit from your hard work. Isn’t that something you should get to decide? Therefore, to ensure that your belongings and your money go where you want when you are no longer capable of saying anything, it is necessary to create an estate plan. Just because you have everything down in writing, though, doesn’t mean conflict can’t arise. This is why it’s best to speak with our O’Fallon, Missouri estate litigation attorney from Legacy Law Center when you are creating your estate plan. An estate attorney O’Fallon MO wants you to consider the five benefits of estate planning as we work together to draw up your documents.
5 Things Everyone Should Know About the Benefits of Estate Planning
- Avoiding Probate
The first and most important benefit, at least to your family and friends, is that your estate will not have to sit in probate limbo while a court-appointed person sorts through your finances and assets. Probate is a time-consuming legal process that can be hard on surviving family, and by creating a thorough estate plan, it is possible to reduce the time spent in probate, if not eliminate the process altogether.
- Creating a Will
A will is another tool that helps to streamline the probate process. As a will is a guide to your final wishes, it helps the court and the executor of the estate (the court-appointed person) make decisions, which can speed up the probate process.
- Controlling the Distribution of Financial Assets
Estate planning also includes the creation of beneficiaries for financial assets, or any assets where such an action is possible. By creating beneficiaries, the assets are automatically transferred after your death, meaning there is no need for an executor or court to decide distribution. This is one of the toughest parts for people who thought they would be beneficiaries and aren’t, though. This is where it is crucial that you speak with an O’Fallon estate litigation attorney to make sure your wording is clear.
- Protecting Larger Assets with Revocable Trusts
While it is useful to declare beneficiaries when possible, some assets do not allow such designations, like houses or cars. Therefore, to ensure that these assets are distributed as you desire, you can create a revocable trust. The reason a trust simplifies the transferring of an asset is that the asset is technically owned by the trust and not any one individual.
- Instilling a Power of Attorney
While most benefits of estate planning come after death, a power of attorney is something that can be used in life. The financial POA allows a trusted individual to handle financial matters on your behalf. The medical POA is likely only used if you become unable to make medical decisions due to illness or incapacitation.
Death is inevitable.
Call Our Estate Litigation Attorney in O’Fallon, MO Now!
When you are working on end-of-life documents, you want the help of an estate litigation attorney O’Fallon, Missouri residents trust; contact us to get your affairs in order.
