4334 West Central Ave., Suite 238, Toledo, OH 43615, US
Estate Planning
Last Will and Testament
Knowledge is power. The more you know about a subject, the better you will do. This discussion offers to provide you with some powerful knowledge about Wills, Durable General Powers of Attorney, Durable Medical Directives and Estate Administration.
Providing for your loved ones in case you get so sick you can not handle your own affairs and planning for your loved ones after you pass away is a basic goal for every responsible person.
Married or single. With minor children or not. With special needs beneficiaries or not.
Whatever money and property you have accumulated during your lifetime will be managed by someone else if you get really sick and, ultimately, all your assets will go to someone else when you pass away.
You can control how your assets will be managed by creating an Estate Plan that reflects your wishes. If you have no Estate Plan, then you leave it to the Courts and the government to handle things for you.
It is your decision.
To help you make informed decisions about your Estate Plan, we present this basic discussion about planning your affairs using a Will and a Power of Attorney. We hope you find this article interesting and useful.
Trust Plans
A Revocable Living Trust is a useful estate planning tool that can, if it is done correctly, avoid Probate Court procedures, move the administration of an estate along in a better time frame, keep the administration of an estate private, and, in certain situations, provide some asset protection after death. [Read More]
A trust is a contained designed to hold your assets. As a container, a trust can be compared to a basket. A basket is a weave of materials (wicker, vines, straw, or other materials). A trust, as a container, is a weave of ideas. The two ideas that are woven into every trust are your instructions for how you want things to go now and in the future, and your delegation of authority so the people you have named can follow your instructions when the time comes that you cannot manage for yourself.
Those two times are during your lifetime if you become incapacitated (temporarily or permanently) and after your death.
There are three jobs in every trust.
1. The Trustmaker (who creates the trust)
2. The Trustee (who manages the trust)
3. The Beneficiary (who benefits from the assets contained in the trust)
Last Will and Testament
Will Plans
The most basic estate plan consists of three documents:
- Last Will and Testament
- General Durable Power of Attorney
- Medical Advanced Directives:
- Health Care Power of Attorney
- Living Will (if you elect to create a Living Will)
- Privacy Act (HIPPA) Authorization.Some individuals and families need more sophisticated estate planning, including revocable trusts, irrevocable trusts, and other asset protection tools.
A Last Will and Testament
A Last Will and Testament has three basic purposes:
1. Appoint someone to handle your affairs after you have died, commonly referred as an Executor.
2. Pay and otherwise settle all your debts and taxes.
3. Distribute the money that is left over to the people or charities you named.