A comprehensive estate plan can provide many more benefits during and after your life than many people realize. It can protect your personal and financial well-being, as well as the financial future of your loved ones. A Springfield, Missouri estate planning attorney can help you craft an estate plan that meets your needs.
What Makes Up a Basic Estate Plan?
A basic estate plan is often made up of a last will and testament. A will is a document that allows you to list:
- The assets in your estate
- The beneficiaries of those assets
- How debts should be paid
- An executor to administer the estate
- A guardian for your minor children
Creating a will provides numerous benefits. Your estate will no longer be automatically distributed based on intestate laws for succession, and you know who will be taking care of your affairs and your estate.
However, a basic estate plan via a will is not a comprehensive estate plan. A will still enters probate court. It is still public information once it goes through probate, and it does not provide you or your loved ones with the full protections that other documents would. Basic estate plans are more vulnerable to will contests than comprehensive estate plans, and a successful will contest can prevent your wishes from being carried out.
How Do You Create a Comprehensive Estate Plan?
A comprehensive estate plan can be made up of numerous documents tailored to your specific needs, as well as the needs of your beneficiaries and estate. Creating a comprehensive estate plan is useful for many reasons, with the primary benefit being the avoidance of probate court.
Probate is how the state inventories, settles, distributes, and closes your estate after death. While it is an important process, it is long, costly, and strenuous for loved ones. It can cut into the benefits you intended for them and can prevent them from assessing the inheritance until the process is resolved.
A comprehensive estate plan can be made up of many documents, although there are certain documents that are more common. There are several important steps to creating a comprehensive estate plan, including:
- Determining Your Goals
It’s important to first understand what your immediate and long-term goals are for your estate. For many, their priority is avoiding probate. Others may want to provide a way for a relative to have access to their inheritance. Other goals include wishing to limit your tax liabilities, safeguarding your estate, and protecting your personal well-being in a medical emergency.
- Establishing a Trust
A trust is a crucial document for avoiding probate. A trust is a private entity, keeping your assets and the beneficiaries private, and transferring inheritance much more quickly. Your estate plan could include one or several trusts. You can create irrevocable trusts which cannot easily be changed, or revocable trusts that you have control over during your lifetime.
A trust is able to hold assets for beneficiaries after your death rather than requiring a transfer to close the estate. This allows you more control over when and how the assets are passed to beneficiaries.
- Powers of Attorney
Power of attorney documents allow you to name someone you trust to manage important tasks when you cannot. In an estate plan, these documents are often used to name who will manage your financial or medical choices if you are incapacitated. You may choose a friend, family member, or professional to handle these tasks. If you cannot make healthcare choices or handle financial transactions, your power of attorney will take care of it.
- Your Healthcare Wishes
By including advance healthcare directives, you have even more control over your healthcare if you become incapacitated. Unfortunately, incapacitation can happen near the end of your life from injury or illness. It can also happen at any point in your life from an unexpected injury.
Your advance directives can provide instructions for the healthcare you consent to, where you prefer to receive this care, your pain management preferences, and your spiritual beliefs. This document gives you significant control over your own care and well-being.
FAQs
Q: What Are the Four Foundational Documents of an Estate Plan?
A: The documents included in an estate plan can vary based on the specific needs of the individual, their estate, and their intended beneficiaries. Four foundational documents that are common include:
- A last will and testament stating the distribution of your assets
- One or more trusts, keeping your assets from entering probate
- Powers of attorney, placing individuals in charge of your affairs
- Advance healthcare directives, listing your preferences for medical care
Q: What Are the Seven Steps in the Estate Planning Process?
A: The exact steps in an estate planning process depend on the unique needs of your estate but could include:
- Outlining your goals for asset distribution and your future
- Reviewing a list of your estate’s assets and debts
- Reviewing Missouri’s relevant laws
- Determining how you want your end-of-life care to be handled
- Deciding how your assets will be distributed
- Ensuring the estate plan is legally valid
- Regularly updating the plan to reflect changes in your life and your intentions
Q: What Are the Three Main Priorities You Want to Ensure With Your Estate Plan?
A: Three common priorities in an estate plan include:
- Ensuring that you and your affairs are protected and properly managed if you are incapacitated
- Preserving your assets throughout your life for your own benefit and the benefit of your beneficiaries after your death
- Lowering the time and cost that your loved ones must spend in court by providing clear wishes
Each person will have different specific and broad goals for their estate plan.
Q: What Is the Difference Between a Will and an Estate Plan?
A: The main difference between a will and an estate plan is that a will is one document in an estate plan. Having only a will is often considered a basic and fundamental estate plan and does not provide all the protections that a more in-depth estate plan does. Documents like powers of attorney and trusts give you more ability to plan for your own future.
Finding the Right Estate Planning Attorneys in Springfield
If you need effective legal support to create an estate plan, the attorneys at Stange Law Firm can help. Contact our team today.
