Estate planning is what a person does to ensure that the people they want have their property and their assets once they die. It helps to ensure that their wishes carry on after they die, provides loved ones with security and ensures that minors are cared for in the way they wish.
If you have young children, property and assets or it is important to you to have a say in your health care treatment if you are incapacitated, then you should think about estate planning. If you have none of these then estate planning is not important for you.
If you have a well determined and legally sound estate plan, it can stop the court taking control of your assets or your children if you are incapacitated, reduce or even eliminate state or Memphis estate taxes or inheritance taxes, protect your dependents, and provide a way to ensure your family and children have an income after your death and your affairs can be managed efficiently.
The best time to start your estate plan is when you are fit and able to do so, as if you start when mentally or physically incapacitated, it may be challenged by people saying you were not capable of creating the plan at that time. In other words, this is something you should do now.
The key elements of an estate planning document will include trusts for minors, special protection of the assets from creditors, protection from medical care which could be paid for by government benefits, guardians for children if both parents die, the naming of executors and trustees to save the court determining who controls your assets, tax planning at the state and federal level and finally a Revocable Trust which is known as a Living Trust which will speed up the distribution of assets to the heirs and avoid probate costs in Memphis.
For information about estate planning in Florida, we encourage you to visit this page.
