Who Should Hire an Estate Planning Attorney
By Barry Zimmer on April 21st, 2016 in Estate Planning
Many people don’t realize they need an estate planning attorney. You may believe you don’t need to think about estate planning because you are young, or because you don’t have a significant amount of money, or because you don’t have children. The reality, however, is everyone benefits from making decisions and creating a plan for their future. Estate planning is not just about who you will leave money to, and it isn’t just about making decisions on how to divide up a large amount of assets. Estate planning is focused on preserving and protecting your assets, autonomy, and dignity.
Zimmer Law Firm is an estate planning firm with attorneys who have decades of collective experience providing assistance with all aspects of estate planning. We are committed to helping clients achieve their goals through the creation of a comprehensive and detailed plan for an uncertain future. We work hard to help you use all of the legal tools that are at your disposal so you can protect your legacy, your loved ones, and yourself. To learn more about why you would benefit by getting help from a Montgomery estate planning professional, give us a call now.
Who Needs an Estate Planning Attorney?
Estate planning can involve creating a plan in case of incapacity so you can control who manages your assets and makes decisions and so you can control what kinds of medical care you get. Estate planning also involves creating a plan for how to cover long term care costs without spending all of your own money, and developing a plan for how your assets can be protected both now and after you pass them on to heirs. Finally, your plan may include issues unique to your situation, including details on who will care for your kids if you become unable to do so, what will happen to your family business if you can’t run it any more, and how your property will transfer when you pass away.
Planning for incapacity and death is important for seniors, which is why estate planning is often considered something that older people do. There’s a greater chance seniors could end up needing a nursing home, or suffering a medical emergency that results in difficult decisions being made. There’s also a greater chance that older people could pass away and could need a plan in place to transfer assets and to avoid estate taxes.
The reality, however, is that young people may be even more in need of a comprehensive estate plan. When you are younger and you have minor children, you want to make absolutely certain that you know who those children will be cared for and how they will be provided for if you are not around to provide their care. Your estate plan can include not only naming someone who will serve as a guardian for your children, but also making financial provisions for their care and establishing a trust so they can be provided for and the money can be managed effectively by a trustee.
When you are younger, you may feel more confident that you won’t suffer a serious illness like a stroke or dementia which leaves you unable to manage your own assets or make medical decisions on your own. The sad reality, however, is that even young people could have strokes that leave them unable to communicate, could get injured, or could develop other serious illnesses which affect their ability to make and communicate their decisions. When you are younger, your family may not know your wishes about the kinds of medical care you want to receive when you are incapacitated and you may have more family around like parents and a spouse who could disagree about what kinds of emergency care and extraordinary measures should be used to keep you alive. This could make it more difficult for your family to make decisions about what happens if you are being kept alive by machines or if you are otherwise in a position where medical care is keeping you alive but you have no quality of life.
For all of these reasons, estate planning is just as important for young people as it is for older people. You need an estate plan regardless of your age, and regardless of how much money you have in the bank, so you can make advanced decisions on your medical care, asset management, care of your kids, and division of assets.
How a Montgomery Estate Planning Attorney Can Help You
The Zimmer Law Firm will help with all aspects of creating a comprehensive plan for your future. Give us a call at 513.721.1513 to speak with a Montgomery estate planning lawyer or join us for a free seminar to learn more about why you need to create a comprehensive estate plan.