An estate planning lawyer is an attorney who is experienced in managing the legal procedures of getting financial affairs in order when someone is preparing for an event that might decapitate them or their eventual passing. This type of lawyer has had several years of mentoring, legal education, and experience in estate, property, and inheritance law.
When people think about estate planning lawyers, their mind races to the ones who draft or read a person’s last will. A lawyer practicing in this field prepares living trusts and creates strategies to reduce or avoid estate taxes. They work overtime to make sure that your savings and assets are safe from possible creditors after your demise.
Estate planning lawyers are your go-to persons when you need someone to take charge of your affairs in case of an emergency. They do this by preparing a power of attorney and health care directives.
If you also need to get a guardian who can look after your affairs in your absence, they are the ones to call. Here are other reasons why you need to hire them:
The Complexity of State Laws
State laws are quite complex, it takes someone familiar with the system to understand it. The laws are specific about what should or shouldn't be in a will, trust, or medical or financial power of attorney.
They also determine witnesses of those documents and specify what procedures must be observed when they are signed. Sometimes, State laws also determine who should become a representative, trustee, or health care surrogate.
Hiring an experienced and qualified estate planning lawyer would help you avoid mistakes that might arise from misunderstanding the law.
Foolproof Plans
You would encounter difficult challenges when planning for the inevitable more so when you are not sure of your needs. You are certain of the assets available and what you would like to be passed on.
But who gets what and when? There might be close relatives, acquaintances, or friends that you would like to have a share in your property or not. Planning the draft of your living will like the legal experts at www.atlantaestatelawcenter.com recommends is underway. With plans being made to set something up for your loved ones in the right way.
There are online tools that will help in the process and even perform more tasks. But even though that is helpful, the internet cannot always be trusted.
How sure are you that there wouldn’t be any errors and that the documents are legal? This is another reason to hire an estate planning lawyer - to create foolproof and indisputable plans.
Your Benefactors Would Save Money
When you do not hire an attorney during the planning stage of how you want your assets to be shared and use forms gotten online or in a DIY manual; there is every possibility that your family would incur more costs.
Even though there is nothing wrong in doing it yourself, your state's court system may not acknowledge your self-completed documents. If they do, you may have failed to notice some important files that would cause setbacks.
The benefactors would spend additional money hiring an estate planning attorney afterward to fix any mistakes. This might put a strain on their finances if they are not financially stable.
They Can Rectify Complex Challenges
You would need an estate lawyer if you have been in multiple marriages, own several businesses, own multiple real estate in several states; have a disabled relative; have children under 18, have troublesome children or non at all, was recently divorced, lost a loved one, or have substantial assets in 401(k)s or IRAs.
They can assist you in ways you can’t imagine if one or more of these situations apply to you.
Proper Business Planning
Business owners need an estate attorney when drafting their estate plans. Whether you want to ensure your business follows a particular pattern or trying to be sure your loved ones have some shares in the business, the estate lawyer can help make this happen.
You are going to need counseling and advice from an experienced estate planning lawyer to help draft properly detailed planning documents. Else either a probate lawyer, the state's revenue department, or the IRS that will benefit from the estate that should have gone to your family.
You can prepare a plan by yourself but you lose nothing by hiring an expert with years of experience and with more knowledge about estate planning that can be capitalized on for your benefit.
