5 Questions To Ask Your Estate Planning Attorney
Are you in need of an estate planning attorney? It’s important to have someone to help you with your will, trust, and other documents to ensure your estate is handled correctly.
When you hire an estate planning attorney, you are gaining the professional’s expertise and experience. It’s important to take advantage of this relationship by asking your lawyer key questions to gain as much knowledge as you can.
Some questions you should consider asking are:
1. What’s the Difference Between Wills and Trusts?
A confusing part of estate planning can be understanding the difference between a trust and a will. The will is a document that lists your intentions after your death, including who your beneficiaries are, to who you are giving Power of Attorney, and what you would like done with your estate.
A trust arranges for the legal transfer of your assets – from you to a trustee, and eventually the beneficiary. The trustee will manage the assets until they are given to your beneficiaries.
2. Why Do I Need a Power of Attorney?
An item you may talk to your estate planning attorney about is why it’s important to establish a Power of Attorney. This person is responsible for making legal and medical decisions on your behalf when you are unable. If you don’t appoint someone as your Power of Attorney, then it can leave your family trying to figure out who needs to make critical decisions on your behalf. In an emergency situation, you will need someone to make decisions for you quickly. Having someone designated – and someone whom you’ve already relayed your wishes to – can make the process easier.
3. What Should Be In My Estate Plan?
While every estate plan is different, there are some key elements that it should contain. This can include medical directives, financial decisions, and more. Working with your estate planning attorney, you can decide how detailed to make your plan and what to put in it. It’s essential to ensure the key decisions are documented clearly and are in the plan to avoid any confusion later.
4. Who Executes the Estate Plan?
It’s important to get clarification from your estate planning attorney on if you are expecting them to execute the estate plan on your behalf, or if you just want them to assist you in writing it. This is essential to know from the beginning as it can help the attorney define the scope of the work and the length of your relationship.
5. Can I Review The Estate Plan?
Do you want to review the documents in your estate plan? It’s important to discuss this with your estate planning attorney at the beginning of your relationship so you can determine the process. Your attorney has been through the estate planning process numerous times before, so they can advise you on when it makes sense to review the plan, and what items, in particular, you will
want to check. If you don’t want to review and approve the documents, then it’s also important to tell your attorney that from the beginning so he or she knows not to bother you with drafts.
Why Hire Us
When you need to establish an estate plan, let the experts at Johnstone Adams LLC represent you and help you with your legal needs. Ranked in the 2022 U.S. News – Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms” list regionally in 12 practice areas, we have experts in many areas of law to give our clients top-notch representation. In business for more than a century, our firm can mix its experience with the ability to evolve with the changing times.
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