There is no doubt that estate planning is an overwhelming task. There are a number of things that are needed to take care of estate planning. Your one wrong word can change the course of action for your beneficiaries. That’s why it is beneficial to take the help of an estate planning attorney to sort out your estate planning task. A trained attorney makes the whole process easy as well as free of any hassle for you.
First of all, what is termed
as an estate? Well, an estate can be anything and everyone has an estate.
Personal possessions, your car, home, furniture, life insurance, savings
account comes under the estate. In short, anything you own is your estate. When
a person dies, he leaves the estate, he can’t take it with him, no matter how
large or small the estate may be. In order to control which part of your estate
goes to which person and to ensure that the whole process gets completed
without any problem and legally, you should do the estate planning.
While planning an estate
people make some mistakes, those mistakes might be minor but they can have a
huge impact on the beneficiaries. Below we are mentioning some mistakes that
you should avoid while planning your estate:
Lack of Information
There are people who are
not aware of estate planning and don’t understand the basics of planning an
estate. If you don’t understand estate planning, it is best to get the basics
clear with the help of an attorney. Many times, clients don’t have an
understanding and they are unable to implement the plans suggested by the
attorney.
Old Asset Ownership
There are many cases
where the client doesn’t bother about updating the asset ownership. For
example, you own some assets on your name, on your spouse’s name, and some
assets might be in trust or in limited partnerships. It is necessary to review
from time to time and if anything has changed in law, consult an attorney to
guide you in the right direction.
Old Beneficiary Designation
Always review beneficiary
designation after every couple of years. If there is any change in the family
situation, such as a marriage or death of someone, you must review the
beneficiary designation. There are some assets that are not affected by your
will. Not updating the beneficiary designation can lead to certain assets to go
to people, like ex-spouse. Therefore update beneficiary designation after a
major change in the family.
Not Updating Power Of Attorney
There are many clients
who forget to update their power of attorney. It can cause major problems if
the power of attorney is in the wrong hands. In a good estate plan, there are
two powers of attorney. The one is for medical care and the other is for other
financial matters. People who don’t have either one face troubles.
Final Words
A real estate attorney can help you in the right direction. If you find
estate planning tricky, you should not feel reluctant to contact a lawyer.
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