Estate Planning

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estate planning is extremely important I

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firmly believe that anybody over the age

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of 18 should have an estate plan

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prepared by a competent attorney

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and there’s a number of reasons for that

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one is most people do not appreciate the

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fact that even if you don’t sign a will

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or a trust an estate plan has been

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created for you and that’s the probate

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act and so under the probate act if you

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don’t sign a trust or don’t sign a will

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that act is going to dictate where your

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assets go to or if you have minor

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children who takes care of your children

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so a great example of that would be

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if you have a child under 18 and

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something happens to you and your spouse

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well what happens to that child

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under the probate act there’s defined

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people who will have the right to care

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for your child

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so I always say you may love your

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brothers and sisters equally you may

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love your brothers and sisters in law

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equally but the reality is you may not

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trust them equally to take care of your

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child or maybe it’s somebody that’s not

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a family member that you want to take

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care of your child and that’s fine

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but if you don’t do a plan the

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government’s going to dictate who takes

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care of your child and I for one don’t

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believe the government or the courts

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should be the decider who takes care of

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your children and so to handle that we

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do Estate Planning and that’s a very

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important provision under estate plans

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another reason to handle or to do an

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estate plan with a competent attorney

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is most of us spend a lifetime building

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up our assets and uh material goods for

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lack a better word

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and again if you don’t do an estate plan

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the probate Act is going to dictate who

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gets your assets

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I want to dictate who handles my assets

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and to do that I I do that through

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trusts and wills so a great example

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would be I’m married with a child if I

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did not prepare an estate plan and I

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passed away half of my estate by law

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would go to my child and half would go

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to my spouse there’s a number of

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problems with that one is for a child

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under 18 that would create a

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guardianship case

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guardianship is very expensive uh it’s

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under the court control and I don’t

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think that’s the best result for my

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child

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likewise most families want the spouses

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to have control over all the assets so

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they can manage their own Affairs and

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also the Affairs of their children there

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are certain tax advantages with a

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properly prepared estate plan this is

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legal and uh

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it has the potential to save you

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hundreds and potentially millions of

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dollars if you don’t do your estate plan

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you risk your large estate to estate

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taxes other advantages of estate

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planning is avoidance of probate

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avoidance a guardianship

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there is a misunderstanding among a lot

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of people that if you have a will you

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avoid probate

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that’s not necessarily true in most

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States if you have assets that exceed a

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certain amount you will be subject to

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probate and probate is a post-death

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court proceeding that handles your

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Affairs again my goal as your attorney

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is to avoid probate and to avoid probate

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we need to properly drafted a state plan