Estate planning involves series of actions with careful considerations. Estate plan are vital to the ensuring continuous protection of your assets and also the wellbeing of your loved one even when you leave them behind. As such it is quintessential to make quality plans guided with proper observations. Most of the thinking however would be done by your estate planning lawyer. Therefore, you need to contact an experience estate lawyer in Fort Lauderdale. Our lawyers have handled several estate planning process, and they are conversant with the estate laws in Fort Lauderdale. With that, they would be able to provide you the suitable estate plan and related document to fit your family and personal needs.
Here are few steps you need to know about making a good estate plans.
Calculate your Net worth.
To be sure on what you are making estate plans on, you need to know the value of your assets. This is the very first step to make a good estate plan. To know your net worth, add up the values of all your assets, also include, investment, saving and retirement accounts and personal properties then subtract all from your liabilities such as credit card debt, loans and mortgages.
Think about your family and personal need for an estate plan.
You don’t need to be billionaire to make estate plans. No matter your financial situation, you need to need plan on what you have. However, you should consider the estate plan suitable for your family as well as financial needs. If you have properties in one or more states, or have complicated family relationship, whether divorced or remarried, you need to consider all these to making a good estate plan.
Plan and determine if you need a will or a living trust.
Once you have known your family and financial needs for an estate plan also your estate value, you need to consider making proper estate document. A will and a living trust are two essential estate document for assets protection. A will states how you want your estate distributed while you are no longer alive. Living trust does the same; however, it could be used to transfer ownership and control of your estate to a trusted individual while you are still alive.
Create a disability plan.
Making plans for when you become mentally or physically disabled is vital. Your estate plans would not be complete without ensuring that your estate is safe even when you become unable to manage them yourself. Estate document such as power of attorney, advance medical derivatives and Medicaid plans help propagate your disability plans. A good disability plan prevents court supervised guardianship.
Fund your revocable trust.
After speaking to an estate lawyer and you get the nod to include a revocable trust in your estate plan. The next thing to do is fund the trust. This mean that you would be adding assets you wish to transfer to a desired beneficiary. Without this, all your labor of creating a proper estate plan might go to waste.
Review/upgrade your estate plans.
Several occurrences take place in our everyday lives and some of these things affect finances, assets, health, and family among others. This change affects plans and more notably estate plans. If you already made you estate plan, you need to consider revising the plan. If you just change state location, added more assets to your estate, or you wish to add or remove a beneficiary of a trust, you should update your estate plans.
Choose your fiduciary or estate plan executor wisely.
Asides making plan, you need to consider who will handle the execution of your wishes over your estate. Choosing the right candidate for this would ensure smooth transfer of your estate to desired beneficiaries and also proper implementation of other estate plans. Perhaps, besides deciding to make estate plans, the next most important thing is the person chosen to implement the plans. A probate or estate lawyer would be a good selection for a fiduciary.
Contact a Fort Lauderdale Estate Planning Lawyer
Our estate lawyer are the best candidate to represent you in the establishment of your estate.
If you reside in Fort Lauderdale and you need help regarding the planning of your estate, and also a personal representative, contact our estate planning lawyer in Fort Lauderdale.
Estate planning can be a tough task, depending on how you want your estate to be planned. Ever more complicated is planning it all by yourself. To ensure that your estate is well planned, it is best you contact a professional, one who is quite conversant with estate planning and the estate planning laws in Fort Lauderdale.