Estate Planning Lawyer Gets You Organized

Do you need an estate planning lawyer to get your paperwork in order or should you try to DIY? Most experts advise individuals to hire a professional to get this legal paperwork set up. The benefits far outweigh the cost outlay. If these documents aren't drawn up properly, it can cause multiple complications and years of pricey probate for your heirs. A couple of the main legal documents to get set up include your will and your power of attorney. Other helpful papers are called directives and letters of instruction. Here are some things to think about:

- Your will: A will does many things including name a manager of your estate or executor, lists your assets and property along with the individuals or charities you choose to leave them to and who should take care of any dependents. Dependents may be your underage kids, any disabled relatives and even your pets. If you don't want to worry about these things or have your family members or friends squabbling over your belongings, you must have a will drawn up by your attorney.

- Power-of-attorney: There are various times in a person's life when they need to have a power-of-attorney in place. Some of these are temporary such as giving the power to your spouse to sign in a real estate transaction if you're out of the country. The one you need for your estate planning is a durable one that names a person you want to make certain decisions for you if you become ill and are unable to do so for yourself. This could include giving them access to your bank accounts or business dealings.

- Directives: Advance directives are called by a variety of names including living wills, healthcare powers-of-attorney and personalized directives. These are necessary for family members to make decisions about your medical care if you are somehow incapacitated. They can decide who your doctor will be, whether you should take specific medicines or be moved to another hospital. This may be a spouse, one of your adult children or your partner if you're unmarried.

- Letter of instructions: A letter of instructions is an informal document that you can either write up yourself or have your lawyer oversee. It's not given as much validity in court as a bona fide will but it's helpful for certain situations. It may just be a list of instructions for your children or family member on how you want certain issues to be taken care of such as pet or vehicular care. If you want Fluffy to be fed only a certain brand of cat food or Rover to be walked off leash in the forest, this would be a good place to list these desires. If you want the car you're leaving to your nephew to only be fueled with the supreme grade of gasoline, you can leave this instruction in this letter.

When a person gets their legal documents in order with the help of an estate planning lawyer, he or she can rest easy. It's not about getting ready to die; it's about relaxing about all these issues while you're alive.