If any of the following circumstances apply to you, you should consider hiring an attorney:
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Read on to learn more about what estate lawyers do and how you can enter this profession. An estate lawyer is a bar certified attorney who specializes in estate planning and assists clients in drafting and implementing legal documents, including wills and trusts.
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When You Legally Need to Hire an Attorney
Writing a living will, or advance directive, allowing you to make informed decisions about your health and well-being in the case that you are physically or mentally incapacitated, say through an accident. This could help lessen the burden of having to make important decisions about your medical care on your family and friends, who may not be in the right state of mind to make decisions for you. With a living will you could specify things like whether you would like to donate your organs or if you would like to be kept on life support.
There are many ways to entrust your belongings to people way before anything happens to you, and they don’t have to involve all the red-tape that comes with inheritances. By figuring out who gets what even well advance of an illness or accident, you can limit what goes in your will to more important things that can’t be transferred over during your life.
Because wills and estates vary in complexity, and assets within the estate can add another layer that must be understood and managed properly, it’s always a good idea to have an estate attorney at your side to help manage your executor duties.
Once you figure out the type of attorney you need, you then need to go about hiring an estate attorney. Here are a few tips to hire an estate attorney: 1 You don’t have to hire the first estate attorney you talk to. Personality matters. As an executor, you will have to work with the estate attorney, so make sure the estate attorney you hire is someone you trust and respect. 2 Ask about the fees. How will the estate attorney be compensated for her work? Will she charge you by the hour or is there a flat fee based on the will and size of the estate? 3 Ask about the process. Will you work with the person you are talking to or a team of people? If it will be a team, make sure you meet those people as well. Paralegals can play a significant role in this process – so meet them if they will be involved.
Even what may seem to be the simplest will, where one where a spouse gives everything to the surviving spouse, still has to be filed with the probate court.
Yes, a will is valid if you do not have it drawn up by an attorney. There are do-it-yourself options you can use to create your legal documents.
You also do not necessarily need a notary for your will. Many states allow a person to sign their will before two witnesses instead of having it notarized.
A will needs to be signed and dated. In most states, you also need two witnesses to watch you sign your will.
A general will shows how you want your property and possessions handled. You may need to find and record:
A living will tells doctors the kind of medical care you want after an accident or illness leaves you unconscious or unable to explain your choices.
Anyone with complex estates or assets may want to use a lawyer for reliable legal advice and polished estate planning documents. The time it takes to read and understand all laws, prepare documents, and pay for any mistakes is more than the average person wants to spend. There is also a large amount of risk involved.
The choice is up to each individual. Online wills can save money for simple will creation. You can create a valid will without a lawyer's help if you are of sound mind and do your research.
Call Arizona Estate Attorney Dave Weed at (480)426-8359 to discuss your case today.
If you fail to open a probate estate, you could be liable for taxes and other claims. Even if you do not think a probate estate is necessary, it is important to discuss your options with an experienced estate attorney.
If the assets in the estate are less than the debts and tax obligations, those debts do not become the responsibility of the loved ones left behind. Unfortunately, many people do not understand this, and they end up paying off debts for which they have no financial or legal responsibility.
The days and weeks following the death of a loved one can seem like a blur. The grieving process is difficult enough, but there will also be a funeral to plan, relatives to notify and financial issues to handle . Meeting with an estate attorney as soon as possible can ease your burden and make a difficult time easier to bear.
The best way to protect the assets is to open the estate right away.
There is a great deal of confusion about how debts are handled when an individual dies. Some people think that these debts simply disappear when the debtor dies, but that is not always the case. While some debts are forgiven on death, others follow the deceased and become part of the estate. The good news is that the family members ...
The death of a loved one is always hard, but the difficulty of handling the estate can make an already difficult situation that much worse. Dealing with the complexities of the estate, closing the financial affairs of a deceased loved one and handling the taxes due can really put a strain on your emotions.
Your successor trustees should be people you trust to manage your assets . Do not micromanage your trustees with an extensive list of what they can or cannot do. Choose people you believe will make good decisions and who are responsible with money. After all, it is called a trust, not a mandate.
The person who creates the trust is called the "settlor.". The trustee, the person in charge of managing the trust (again, this is your name if it's your trust). The trustee who will take over managing the trust and distributing the property when the original trustee dies or becomes incapacitated.
Trusts allow people to say how their property will be distributed after they die while maintaining some control over their property while they are alive. A trust can be simple or complicated to create, depending on your assets and family situation. Trusts often are misunderstood.
Then, to make it effective, use a deed or standard transfer document to transfer the property of the trust into the trustee's name, per the trust's terms. Your next step is to fund the trust.
Many people who want to create a living trust contemplate hiring a living trust lawyer. Hiring a living trust lawyer can cost between $1,200 to $2,000, which does not itself guarantee you top-quality service. For simple situations, you can use do-it-yourself books or software and pay around $60. If you are willing to invest some time using ...
The ease of creating a living trust is comparable to creating a last will and testament, which many people do without the help of a lawyer. To understand whether you can do it yourself, it is helpful to know what goes into a living trust.
A lawyer can use their knowledge of the law and experience in estate planning to help you establish financial structures that meet your individual needs. Contact a local estate planning attorney to learn how they can help address your living trust concerns.
Probate and privacy concerns. Another good reason to have an estate plan is to minimize the probate process and its expenses, delays, and loss of privacy. Among the concerns with probate are: Loss of privacy: Anyone can access information from the probate court.
Learning more about estate taxes in your state of residence will help you evaluate whether or not an estate plan is right for you and your family. A key advantage of an estate plan is its power to minimize the probate process and its expenses, delays, and loss of privacy.
The age of majority in a given state is set by state laws; generally, the age is 18 or 21.
An estate plan goes much further than a will. Not only does it deal with the distribution of assets and legacy wishes, but it may help you and your heirs pay substantially less in taxes, fees, and court costs.
Does the value of the estate exceed the estate tax exclusion? In 2021, for a legally married couple, generally each spouse would have the $11.7 million federal estate tax exclusion. At the death of the first spouse, their exclusion could be taken on by the surviving spouse, allowing the survivor to exclude $23.4 million (or more, because the surviving spouse’s exclusion will be indexed for inflation) from federal estate taxes. A thorough estate plan would also include provisions addressing what would happen in the event of a simultaneous death.
A financial power of attorney allows you to name someone to help with your financial affairs in the event that you are unable to manage them yourself.
At the death of the first spouse, their exclusion could be taken on by the surviving spouse, allowing the survivor to exclude $23.4 million (or more, because the surviving spouse’s exclusion will be indexed for inflation) from federal estate taxes.