An Estate Attorney Can Ensure Your Wishes Are Followed

Criminal Defense AttorneyAs a local estate attorney, we help our clients to plan ahead for what will happen to their assets after they die.  This is important because, without a plan and a will or trust, the government will make the final decision on where your assets go.  You won’t have any say, and your heirs can spend years in probate court.

We recommend that you schedule an appointment to discuss your assets and your plans with an attorney.  It is a good idea to bring a list of your assets with you since it can be difficult to remember to talk about everything during the meeting.  This should include life insurance policies, bank accounts, investments in companies, stock and bonds, real estate, cars and more.  Anything that you own can be part of your estate, even the paintings on your walls and the furniture in the living room.

As an estate attorney, we can help to list out your assets and even get them appraised if you would like to know their cash value.  This can be helpful when trying to divide things among multiple children.  When completing your will, we can make it extremely detailed.  By listing out even the smallest things like your clothing, we can prevent your heirs from fighting.  The more ambiguity there is in how your assets are to be divided, the more likely there will be a division within your own family.  The emotional stress of it can make even close families start to fight.

After you have identified what all of your assets are, we can keep copies of statements and policies so that when you pass we can help your heirs to gain access to everything.  This will save them time and the stress of having to locate everything.  It is important for us to keep a record of the contact information and account numbers for your assets along with the names and contact information for all of your heirs.  This will ensure that everything is distributed without complication.

If you have specific wishes that you want to be followed, we can help with that as well.  For example, if you want to make sure that your grandkids all go to college, we can help to establish specific accounts so that the funds are not used for anything else.  Simultaneously if you have a family heirloom or vacation home that you don’t want to be sold, we can include a provision that it has to remain in the family.  Whatever your wishes or conditions are, we can look for ways to make sure that they are carried out long after you are gone.

Working with an estate attorney can give you peace of mind for what will happen to your assets after death and help you to sort out everything that you want to accomplish.  Sometimes just speaking with someone can help you to decide what you want to do and help to clarify some of the goals that you have.  To get started, give us a call.