3 Reasons to Hire an Estate Planning Lawyer

Every person should have an estate plan.  No matter what you have, you earned it. An estate plan prevents your things from loss and waste.  Regardless of your age, if you’re married, have kids or not, or your income status. An estate plan provides a structured, organized method for where your assets, belongings, money, etc. go after your death. Even if you don’t think you have an estate, you do. And it’s essential to have a legally binding plan for those things. Here are three reasons you should hire an estate planning lawyer when writing up your estate plan.

1. Make sure you protect your beneficiaries

Your beneficiaries deserve protection, which you can provide with a proper estate plan. Many methods exist to provide your spouse, descendants, or other heirs with protection from divorce and legal entanglements.  To ensure you heirs follow your wishes, you need an estate plan. The best way to do this is to have your estate plan written up by a professional. They will make sure the right people get the right amount of inheritance. Dealing with estates can get messy between families and having a written out will and estate plan will help ease those tensions.

2. Tax breaks

By working with a lawyer can help avoid taxes. Inheritance Taxes, Estate Taxes, Capital Gains Taxes, and other Transfer Taxes potentially exist. Working with a trained, experienced attorney can help set up your estate in a way that reduces or avoids taxes. Your lawyer will work with you to develop the right kind of trusts such as ABC trusts, revocable living trusts, or AB trusts that allow you to reduce or even eliminate any estate taxes. By planning and working with a legal team, both individuals and married couples can lighten the tax burden on their estates.

3. Avoid probate

When someone dies without an estate plan, their estate is subject to probate. Probate is the process where the state validates the deceased’s will. The state will then determine the value of the estate and decide the beneficiaries. A lawyer will walk you through how to set up your estate through a variety of trusts in order to prevent probate from occurring.  In some situations avoiding probate can save your estate money, but in other conditions probate is preferable.  An experienced estate planning lawyer can help review your assets to decide which route bests addresses your given situation.

Many Reasons to Hire an Estate Planning Lawyer:

Having a proper estate plan in place not only protects your loved ones but also gives you peace of mind. You can live out your life knowing that if anything should happen to you, you have provided for your family.  Further, the plan ensures distribution as you wish for your assets, business, land, personal property, and liquid assets. The best way to ensure this peace of mind is to hire a professional lawyer to write up your plan. They understand the process, the legal terminology, and can give you options so you can create a plan that is right for you.

If you currently do not have an estate plan or would like to update your current estate plan, reach out to an estate planning lawyer today. They will work with you to determine the best idea given your savings, assets, and retirement accounts. Let’s make sure your heirs get to enjoy what you leave behind.

Call Klenk Law for more insight into estate planning and reasons to hire a lawyer.