Estate Planning is the creation of a plan to manage your estate during your lifetime and the distribution after your death. Good estate planning should accomplish your goals for yourself and your family. There are various ways to plan.
We can help prepare your Estate Plan. A typical Estate Plan consists of a Will and/or Trust, a Financial Power of Attorney and a Heath Care Power of Attorney. Preparing an Estate Plan lets you decide who will make your financial and medical decisions. Estate Planning attempts to eliminate uncertainties.
There are various way to plan:
- Wills
- Trusts
- Durable Power of Attorney for Financial documents
- Power of Attorney for Health Care documents
A Will is used to let everyone know exactly to whom you want your assets distributed when you die. It’s also the place to name guardians for your children. Dying without a Will, is known as dying “intestate”, which can be costly to your heirs and leaves you no say over who will receive your assets.
A Trust is a legal mechanism that lets you put conditions on how and when your assets will be distributed upon your death. They also allow you to reduce your taxes and to distribute assets to your heirs without the cost, delay and publicity of probate. Even if you have a Trust, you still need a Will to take care of any assets held outside of the trust.
A Financial Power of Attorney is a document that appoints an agent to make financial decisions for you, when you are unable to do so. If you do not have a Power of Attorney in place, a Guardianship process may need to be started with the court, to determine who will be appointed to make financial decisions on your behalf, if you are not able to do so.
A Health Care Power of Attorney is a document that appoints an agent to make medical decisions for you when you are unable to do so. If you do not have a Power of Attorney in place, a Guardianship process may need to be started with the court, to determine who will be appointed to make medical and placement decisions on your behalf, if you are not able to do so.
At each stage of life: reaching adulthood, marriage, birth of a child, divorce, disease or death, it is wise to look at your Estate Plan. If you became incapacitated, who would make your medical and financial decisions? Despite what many people think, it is not automatically your spouse. When you die, will your assets go where you think they will and how much money (taxes and attorney fees) will it cost to get them there? I offer flat fees for many Estate Planning packages and can make the process as “painless as possible.”
“We found a need to update a very old Will as well as establish both a Health Care and Financial Power of Attorney. After doing some research on law offices that may be able to assist we were pleased to have found the Law Offices of Jane L. Walker.
Jane’s team was able to answer all of our questions and provided all of the upfront information needed to assist us in creating new Wills, Health Care Power of Attorney, Financial Power of Attorney, and an Authorization for Final Disposition and Funeral Checklist.
All of these documents were able to be created with only two (2) visits and a little bit of homework.
All of our dealings with the Law Office of Jane L. Walker were done in a very professional and courteous manner. We found the rates to be in line with other rates for the same services while providing exceptional customer service and support.
We would recommend anyone needing Estate Planning to give the Law Office of Jane L. Walker a serious consideration.”
“My husband and I went to Jane Walker to have a Will drawn up. We were very pleased with her professionalism and knowledge. Jane explained the various options for beneficiaries and we utilized her expertise to decide which option best fit our needs. She spent time explaining health care directives also. We enjoyed her friendly and engaging personality which made us feel less stressed making difficult decisions. We would highly recommend Jane to provide these services to our friends and relatives.”
My husband and I were very satisfied with the excellent service we received from our attorney, Jane Walker. Due to unusual circumstances, Jane guided us through a very lengthy amount of work and expedited the process in a short period of time. Jane was always friendly and professional, answering any and all questions or concerns that we had. I have to mention that her staff did not go unnoticed, they worked very hard to pull a mountain of paperwork together for us. We would highly recommend Jane to anyone who needs an attorney for all she specializes in.
– Earl & Susan 12/30/2014