Tag: Estate Planning Attorney

10 Life Events That Signal It’s Time to Review Your Estate Plan – Part 1

Post author By Sara Thomas
Post date July 29, 2023
15 Comments on 10 Life Events That Signal It’s Time to Review Your Estate Plan – Part 1

Maybe you thought that creating a Will or Trust is something you can do once and then your family and assets are protected forever after. It seems to be how most lawyers structure their services, so it wouldn’t be surprising if you did think this. You work with your lawyer, they draft documents, you bring them home in a binder or notebook, put them on a shelf or in a drawer, and you never hear from them again. Estate plan, done. But, it’s not. Thinking of it this way could leave your family with a big mess when something happens to you.

In reality, life events can drastically affect your estate plan and even cause your plan not to work in the way you intended. To make sure your plan remains up-to-date throughout your life, we recommend reviewing your plan at a minimum of every three years. Because I am so passionate about this, I offer to review my clients’ plans every three years for free.

And, if any of these ten life events happen before your three-year plan review, you’ll want to have your plan professionally reviewed right away. Let’s take a closer look at these ten life events and how they can affect your estate plan and what changes may be required.

01 | Your Assets or Liabilities Changed

Life is full of changes, and your financial situation is unlikely to stay the same over time. Changes in your assets, such as acquiring a new home or other assets, selling property, or incurring debt should prompt a review of your estate plan. You may need to update asset distribution, beneficiary designations, and financial provisions to reflect these changes accurately and ensure that the people you love receive what you intend when you die. Most importantly, you need to update your asset inventory every time your assets change, and if you do not have an asset inventory, update your plan to ensure you have an inventory included. The biggest risk to your family in the event of your incapacity or death is that they do not know what you have, where it is or how to find it. We solve this by creating and updating your asset inventory, regularly.

02 | You Bought, Sold, or Started a Business

Owning a business adds another layer of complexity to your estate plan. If you’ve recently bought or sold a business, it’s essential to update your plan to reflect what you want to happen to your business when you die, ensure a smooth transfer of ownership (if desired), and create a plan to protect your business assets for yourself and your loved one’s future.

The financial and personal value of your business can be a significant gift to your loved ones both today and for years to come – if you know how to incorporate it into your estate plan in the right way.

03 | You Welcomed a Child to Your Family

Welcoming a new child into your family is an incredibly joyful moment. As a parent, it’s essential to update your estate plan to include provisions for your child’s well-being and financial future. This includes naming Guardians for minor children, creating a Kids Protection Plan®, and ensuring their financial security through Trusts or other means. It’s also important to document your wishes for your child’s education, religion, and values in your plan so that their legal Guardians will know how you would want your child raised if something happened to you.

04 | Your Minor Child Reached the Age of Majority (or Will Soon)

As your children grow up and reach the age of majority, it’s time to review how they will receive their inheritance, make sure someone can legally make healthcare decisions for them, and manage their money in the event they become incapacitated. Depending on their level of maturity, you may want to consider if they are ready to handle assets on their own and if so, what amount.

An even better idea is to provide lifelong protection of your child’s inheritance through the use of a Lifetime Asset Protection Trust. By using this estate planning tool, your child’s inheritance can be used to support your child’s future while safeguarding its use and protecting it from any potential future lawsuits or divorces your child may face later in life. This ensures that your children are financially secure as they head into adulthood while also supporting your children with financial responsibility.

05 | A Loved One Dies

The loss of a family member is emotionally devastating, and it can significantly affect your estate plan. If a deceased loved one was a recipient of assets under your Will, Trust, or financial accounts, it’s crucial to update these documents to make sure your assets will be distributed to the right people. Additionally, if the deceased individual was designated as a Trustee or Executor of your estate or a Guardian of your minor children, you will need to appoint new individuals to fill these roles.

Planning for Life’s Changes

Your estate plan is the foundation that protects your family and your finances today and in the future. But estate planning is not a set-it-and-forget-it task; rather, your estate plan should change and evolve with the changes in your life.

We’re here to guide you through life’s changes to keep your estate plan up-to-date and effective, so you can have the peace of mind of knowing that your plan will work exactly how you want it to when your loved ones need it most.

If you’ve recently experienced a significant life event or it’s been a while since your last estate plan review, now is the time to review your plan. If you haven’t created an estate plan yet, it’s better to plan early than to have no plan at all.

To get started, schedule a free 15-minute discovery call to learn more about my process where we’ll discuss your family dynamics and goals, address any changes in your life, and create a comprehensive estate plan that brings you peace of mind.

Plus, don’t forget to return next week when I’ll be discussing five more life events that signal it’s time to review your plan.

This article is a service of August Law, a Personal Family Lawyer® Firm. We don’t just draft documents; we ensure you make informed and empowered decisions about life and death, for yourself and the people you love. That’s why we offer a Life & Legacy Planning Session, during which you will get more financially organized than you’ve ever been before and make all the best choices for the people you love.

The content is sourced from Personal Family Lawyer® for use by Personal Family Lawyer® firms, a source believed to be providing accurate information. This material was created for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as ERISA, tax, legal, or investment advice. If you are seeking legal advice specific to your needs, such advice services must be obtained on your own separate from this educational material.

Tags Adoption, Birth, Death, Divorce, Estate Plan, Estate Plan Review, Estate Planning Attorney, Life Events, Marriage, Young Adult

Estate Planning

What the National Debt Ceiling Extension Means for Your Family

Post author By Sara Thomas
Post date July 24, 2023
No Comments on What the National Debt Ceiling Extension Means for Your Family

You’ve probably heard about the national debt ceiling and its recent extension, but you might wonder what it has to do with your everyday life as a family. While it may seem like a distant matter, the national debt ceiling extension can have a significant impact on your family’s financial well-being and future planning.

So what exactly is the national debt ceiling extension?

The national debt ceiling is a legal limit set on the amount of money the government can borrow to finance its operations and meet its financial obligations domestically and around the globe. When the government reaches this limit, it cannot borrow more money unless Congress raises or extends the country’s debt ceiling. If the ceiling isn’t raised and the United States can’t pay back its debts, the country’s global creditworthiness is affected as well as financial security abroad and at home.

Congress raised the national debt ceiling on June 3, 2023, which means the United States will not default on its loans. This is good news, and yet the extension of the debt ceiling can still affect the economy and your family.

Here’s how the national debt ceiling extension can affect the economy, and your family, and what you can do to mitigate the impacts.

Access to Credit and Loans

You likely rely on credit and loans for various purposes, such as buying a home, financing education, or handling unexpected expenses. When the national debt ceiling is extended, it can create uncertainty in the financial markets, leading to higher interest rates and tighter lending conditions. This means that securing affordable credit and loans for major life milestones or managing financial emergencies may become more challenging.

One of the ways you can mitigate this impact could be to consider starting a business or a side hustle, so you can create multiple revenue streams instead of just being reliant on one, and leverage access to business credit, which can be more accessible and less expensive than using personal credit, even in tight lending markets.

Consumer Confidence and Spending Habits

Your family’s financial health may be closely tied to the state of the external economy. When there is uncertainty surrounding the national debt ceiling, coupled with high inflation, it can affect consumer confidence and spending habits. As people become concerned about the government’s ability to manage its debt, they may tighten their spending, leading to decreased demand for certain goods and services. This can have a direct impact on your job stability, income growth, and even your ability to save and invest for the future.

One way to mitigate this risk is to begin to separate the well-being of your family from the greater economy by creating your own local economy, wherever possible. If that feels far afield, consider ways that you can begin to generate income locally by making a product that friends and neighbors would want and need, or providing a side service within your local community.

If you decide to go this route, contact me to discuss options to create your side business in the most tax-advantaged and liability protected manner.

Government Programs and Support

Government programs and support play a crucial role in many families’ lives, especially during challenging times. However, when the national debt ceiling is extended, it can put pressure on government budgets, leading to potential cuts or delays in funding for essential programs and services. This may directly affect your access to healthcare, education, housing assistance, and other forms of support that your family relies on.

If you have a child or family member with special needs or an elderly family member you are supporting this may affect you even more. Now is the time to tighten relationships with your nuclear and extended family, marshall all the family resources, and get into conversation around how you can use all the family resources to support all of the children and elders in the best way possible. If you need help speaking to your parents, or considering how best to ensure a lifetime of support for a child with special needs, give us a call and let’s strategize together.

Tax and Fiscal Policies

Changes in tax and fiscal policies, often influenced by the national debt, can have a significant impact on your family’s finances. As the government seeks ways to manage the national debt, it may consider adjustments to tax rates, deductions, or credits. These changes can directly affect your take-home income, savings, and overall financial planning. Understanding and adapting to these shifts is crucial for effectively managing your family’s budget and long-term wealth and legacy.

You can be fairly certain tax rates will go up to support the debt extension. And, the middle class, especially those who do not know how to mitigate tax impacts with legal entity structuring, are likely to bear the burden. If you want to leverage the tax-advantaged strategies of the wealthy to keep more money in your local community, and in your family’s bank account, contact us to discuss options.

Ongoing Guidance for Your Family

We understand that managing your family’s financial and legal well-being can feel overwhelming, especially when it’s hard to know how changes in the law and the financial landscape will affect you. But remember, you don’t have to face these challenges alone. Our mission is to provide you with the support and guidance you need as you navigate changes in the law so you can build a life you love while protecting and preserving your wealth and legacy for the next generation.

While we aren’t financial advisors, we can connect you with a trusted network of professionals and work alongside your financial and tax advisors to make sure your estate plan coordinates with your overall financial plan and protects your family’s wishes and wealth no matter what the future brings.

Ready to protect your family’s wealth and preserve your assets and your story for generations to come? We invite you to schedule a free 15-minute call to learn more.

This article is a service of August Law, a Personal Family Lawyer® Firm. We don’t just draft documents; we ensure you make informed and empowered decisions about life and death, for yourself and the people you love. That’s why we offer a LIfe & Legacy Planning Session, during which you will get more financially organized than you’ve ever been before and make all the best choices for the people you love.

Tags Estate Plan, Estate Planning, Estate Planning Attorney, Legacy Planning, National Debt Ceiling Extension, Personal Family Lawyer®

Estate Planning

4 Tips for Talking About Estate Planning at Your Family Reunion

Post author By Sara Thomas
Post date July 17, 2023
No Comments on 4 Tips for Talking About Estate Planning at Your Family Reunion

July is National Family Reunion Month and the perfect time to reconnect with family from near and far, share life’s updates, and reminisce about the wonderful memories you share together. If you’re getting together with family this month, it’s also a perfect time to talk to your loved ones about your shared goals, family resources and the legacy you want to leave behind for the next generation.

You might think that estate planning is too somber a topic for a happy family reunion, but it can actually be an opportunity to bring you closer to your loved ones by giving everyone time to speak openly about their wishes for the family and can help everyone feel unified by working together toward the family’s future wellbeing.

Not sure how to bring up estate planning in a way that makes your family feel empowered? Keep reading to learn how to navigate the conversation without scaring away party guests!

1. Invite Your Loved Ones to the Conversation In Advance

Instead of bringing up the topic on the spot at your reunion, reach out to your relatives in advance and let them know that you’d like to set aside some time during the reunion to talk about your family’s legacy and how you can work together to take care of each other in the future.

Everyone likes to feel they’re being looked after and that their input in family matters is wanted and valued. Any ongoing concerns with your family, such as an aging relative’s declining memory or your upcoming knee surgery, are great lead-ins to bring up the topic in a way that feels natural.

If anyone is resistant to the idea of talking about estate planning, don’t push them. Instead, keep your energy warm and empathetic, and keep the invitation to the discussion open in case they change their mind.

2. Be Vulnerable and Explain Why Estate Planning Is Important to You

Assure everyone that the goal of the conversation is to make sure the family’s future security and well-being are taken care of no matter what happens – not to try and pry into anyone’s finances, health, or relationships. Instead, it’s about ensuring everyone’s wishes are clearly understood and respected, and not about finding out how much money someone stands to inherit.

Be sure to tell your family that talking about these issues now is also a good way to avoid future conflict and expense. When family members don’t clearly understand the reasoning behind one another’s planning choices, it’s likely to breed conflict, resentment, and even costly legal battles in the future.

Instead, tell your loved ones that you’d like to start the conversation about estate planning early and continue it as an open dialogue with the whole family for years to come. Positioning the conversation as one about planning for the future health and well-being of your family rather than as a conversation about dividing assets at someone’s death will help your relatives will feel more at ease, and some may even be eager to be involved in the conversation.

If you have not yet handled your own planning, now would be a great time to start so you can have the conversation with your loved one’s by sharing about your personal experience and how handling your own estate planning has helped you to think more deeply about what matters to you, how you want to live out the rest of your life, and how you’d love to share this experience with your whole family.

3. Set a Time and Place for the Conversation

Rather than trying to find the right moment to bring up the topic, set a time and a place with your family in advance of the get-together. Be sure to schedule a specific time, but don’t feel like the meeting invite needs to sound too serious or foreboding. Asking if everyone can meet around the fire pit at 6:00 pm or meet at your house for coffee at 9:00 am is perfect.

I also recommend giving everyone an end time for the discussion as well. By doing this, your loved ones will know what to expect and won’t feel worried that the conversation will eat up too much of their time.

Setting boundaries for the conversation will also help motivate members of your family to participate and stay on topic.

To make things even easier, come to the meeting with a list of the most important points you’d like to cover and encourage your family members to do the same. But, keep the list short so you don’t go over the time you’ve set aside for the discussion.

If there are too many things to cover in the time allotted, that’s okay. Talk about the most important topics and agree as a family to get together again on a specific date either in person, on the phone, or via video chat to continue the discussion and flesh out any details that were left for later.

4. Focus on Your Family’s Legacy

While talking to your loved ones about estate planning, remember to talk about your family’s legacy and your desire to pass on your cumulative stories, memories, values, and lessons to the younger generation and beyond. A family reunion is a wonderful way to come together, and estate planning can be an amazing tool for memorializing your family’s most important assets- your human assets.

You and your loved ones have generations of stories, traditions, and triumphs worth protecting and celebrating. Let your family know that estate planning isn’t just about planning for death – it’s also about planning ahead so you can enjoy your life to the fullest knowing that everything and everyone you love will be taken care of if you become ill or when you die.

For my clients, it’s also a unique opportunity to capture your family’s most valued memories and stories. I help my clients record the things that mean the most to them and the things they want to pass on that are far more valuable than money.

What would be more precious than being able to share and watch this recording of our loved ones at future family reunions for generations to come?

How We Can Help

If you would like more advice on how to talk to your family about estate planning or are interested in beginning your own estate planning journey so you can ensure your family is taken care of and share your personal planning experience with your family, give me a call.

It’s my passion to guide you through every stage of planning your life and legacy, and when there’s an opportunity for an entire family to come together on their estate planning goals, love and happiness are bound to follow.

This article is a service of August Law, a Personal Family Lawyer® Firm. We don’t just draft documents; we ensure you make informed and empowered decisions about life and death, for yourself and the people you love. That’s why we offer a LIfe & Legacy Planning Session, during which you will get more financially organized than you’ve ever been before and make all the best choices for the people you love.

Tags Estate Plan, Estate Planning, Estate Planning Attorney, Family Counsel, Family Reunion, Legacy Planning, Personal Family Lawyer®

Estate Planning

3 Pitfalls That Could Make Your Estate Plan Worthless

Post author By Sara Thomas
Post date July 8, 2023
No Comments on 3 Pitfalls That Could Make Your Estate Plan Worthless

Including a Trust as part of your estate plan is a smart decision. It allows you to avoid probate, maintain privacy, and distribute your assets to your loved ones while also providing them with a lifetime of asset protection, if you choose it for them. But, here’s the thing you might not know, and is critically important to remember: simply creating a Trust is not enough. For your Trust to work, it has to be funded properly and may need to be updated over time.

Funding your Trust means transferring ownership of your assets from your own name into the name of your Trust. This can include bank accounts, investments, real estate, and other valuable possessions.

By funding your trust properly, you ensure your assets are managed according to the terms of your Trust and will be distributed according to your wishes when you die or if you become incapacitated.

But, if you fail to fund your Trust, it becomes nothing more than an empty vessel. Your assets will not be protected or distributed as intended, at least partially defeating the purpose of creating a Trust in the first place! While your assets can still get into your trust and be governed by your Trust after your death, that means that your family still goes to court to get your assets there, and that is a costly endeavor.

To make sure your Trust works for you, avoid these funding fiascos and work with an attorney who will ensure that everything that needs to get into your Trust does.

Forgetting to Update Your Account Beneficiaries

Many people mistakenly believe that a Will or Trust alone is enough to dictate how their financial accounts should be distributed after they die. However, this isn’t the case. Without proper beneficiary designations on your accounts, your wishes may not be honored and your assets could end up in the wrong hands.

Remember, the beneficiaries you designate on your accounts supersede any instructions in your Will or Trust, so this step is vitally important.

Take a moment to review your various accounts, such as bank accounts, retirement plans, and life insurance policies. Ensure that each account has your Trust named as your designated beneficiary, unless you’ve made different plans for that specific account.

When you are working with a lawyer, make sure your lawyer has a plan for each one of your beneficiary-designated assets, communicates that plan to you, and that the two of you decide who will handle updating your beneficiary designations. Then, make sure you review your beneficiary designations annually. In our office, we support our clients to do all of this with well-documented asset inventories, and a regular review process built into all of our plans.

Your Attorney Didn’t Move Your Home Into Your Trust

For many of us, our home is our most important and valuable asset. But if your attorney doesn’t deed your home into your Trust, your home won’t be included under the terms of your Trust if you become incapacitated or pass away.

That means your home could end up going through the long and expensive probate court process in order to be managed during an illness or passed on to your loved ones after you die. If you own a $300,000 home, that means your family could lose up to $15,000 or more just to transfer your home to your trust and then distribute your home pursuant to the terms of the trust – and that’s not including any other assets that would have to go through probate.

A knowledgeable estate planning attorney shouldn’t miss this step, but it happens. And if you’re using a DIY service online to create a Trust without the help of any attorney at all, it’s bound to happen!

That’s why it’s so important to work with a lawyer who takes the time to make sure every asset you own is in your Trust.

Not Reviewing Your Plan and Accounts Every Three Years

You might wonder how not reviewing your estate plan every few years (or anytime there’s a major life change like a marriage, divorce, or addition of a child) could really make your plan worthless. Well, the good news is that failing to review your plan is unlikely to completely eliminate the benefits it provides you because an estate plan is made up of a number of moving parts, not just a Will or a Trust.

But, failing to keep your financial assets up-to-date and aligned with your estate plan can result in huge issues for you and your family and can even make the Trust you invested in worth little more than the paper it’s printed on!

That’s because your Trust can’t control any assets that don’t have the Trust listed as the owner or beneficiary. By reviewing your accounts every three years, you can help catch any accounts that don’t have your Trust listed in this way.

For example, it’s very common for clients to open a new bank account and forget to open the account in the name of their Trust or add their Trust as a beneficiary.

Thankfully, by comparing my clients’ financial accounts to their estate plan at least every three years (or when there’s a major life change), I’m able to catch simple oversights like this that could cause their assets to be completely left out of their Trust.

Make Sure All of Your Assets Are Included In Your Plan with Help From Us

Getting your legal documents in place is an important step, but it’s equally important to know that the documents themselves are not magic solutions (as magical as they may seem!). Merely creating a Trust or naming beneficiaries on your accounts does not guarantee that your wishes will be carried out unless all of the pieces of your plan are coordinated to work together.

That’s why I work closely with my clients to not only create documents but to create a comprehensive plan that accounts for all of your assets and how each one needs to be titled to make sure your plan works for you the way you intended.

Plus, I offer my clients a free review of their plans and financial accounts every three years to ensure that their plans accurately reflect their lives and their wishes for their assets and loved ones.

If you want to know more about my process for funding your Trust and making sure nothing is ever left out of your plan, schedule a free 15-minute discovery call. I can’t wait to hear from you.

This article is a service of August Law, a Personal Family Lawyer® Firm. We don’t just draft documents; we ensure you make informed and empowered decisions about life and death, for yourself and the people you love. That’s why we offer a LIfe & Legacy Planning Session, during which you will get more financially organized than you’ve ever been before and make all the best choices for the people you love.

Tags Estate Plan, Estate Planning Attorney, Estate Planning Mistakes, Estate Planning Pitfalls, Personal Family Lawyer®

Estate Planning

Why “Just a Will” Is Never Enough

Post author By Sara Thomas
Post date May 16, 2023
1 Comment on Why “Just a Will” Is Never Enough
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Wills have a reputation as the number one estate planning tool, in small part thanks to Hollywood’s dramatic “reading of the Will” scenes (which rarely happens in real life) to characters plotting how best to defraud their billionaire uncle’s Will in order to inherit his lavish estate.

Although Wills are a key part of your estate plan, relying on a Will alone won’t solve your estate planning needs. Instead, using just a Will to plan your final wishes is likely to leave your loved ones with an expensive mess that won’t distribute your assets in the way you intended.

What’s more, a Will alone won’t ensure that you’re taken care of in the event of incapacity, and contrary to what you might think, relying on only a Will actually guarantees that your family will need to go to court when you die.

If you don’t want to leave your family with a mess if something happens to you, it’s important to know how a Will works and when it can be used to benefit you and your family.

What Exactly Is a Will and How Does it Work?

A Will is a written document that directs how the creator of the Will wants their possessions disposed of after their death. The creator of the Will is called the testator or testatrix. In your Will you can name someone you trust to manage the distribution of your assets, called your personal representative or executor. You can also direct what you want to have happen to your property, what charitable gifts you want to make, and who will receive them.

A Will can be a complex document or a very simple document. With that said, a Will isn’t a legally binding document unless it’s executed according to the laws of the state where you reside. In general, you need to sign your will in front of a witness, and sometimes a notary. Every state has different laws for the creation of a Will, it’s important to consult with an experienced estate planning attorney (like me) to create your Will rather than trying to write your own.

A Will Requires Probate Court

One of the biggest estate planning myths I hear from clients is the belief that by having a Will, their loved ones won’t need to go to court after they die.

This is, sadly, the opposite of the truth.

If you use only a Will as your main method of estate planning, you actually guarantee that your loved ones will go to court after you die. A Will is required by law to go through the court system called probate before any of your assets can be distributed. In fact, a will is only effective within the probate court.

Once your Will is admitted to the court after your death, your personal representative or executor will be given official authority to move your assets under the court’s supervision. This ensures your property is distributed according to your wishes and that the court can intervene if there are any disputes over who gets what.

While court oversight can be helpful if there is any confusion or disagreement about your estate, the probate process is long and expensive. Depending on your state, the process can take about 6 months for small estates, or 12 – 18 months (sometimes even longer) for most estates.

Due to the length and complexity of the process, going through probate can easily cost your family tens of thousands of dollars. Some states even require that probate cost a certain percentage of your estate’s value.

In addition, because probate is a public court proceeding, your Will becomes part of the public record upon your death, allowing everyone to see the contents of your estate, who your beneficiaries are, and what they’ll receive. Unfortunately, scammers could use this information to try to take advantage of young or vulnerable beneficiaries who just inherited money from you.

A Will Does Not Apply to All of Your Assets or All of Your Needs

A Will actually only covers certain items of your property, including any property owned solely in your name and any property that doesn’t have a beneficiary designation. It does not cover property co-owned by you with others listed as joint tenants or owned as marital property, meaning you can only give away your share of any property you own with others, not the entire property.

Any assets that have a beneficiary designation, like retirement accounts or life insurance, are not controlled by your Will at all, but will be paid out to the person listed as your beneficiary on each account. Because of this, it’s especially important to make sure your account beneficiaries are up to date, and named in a way that will not result in unintended consequences.

In addition, a Will has no power until you die, so you can’t use it to give someone you trust the power to make decisions for you if you’re incapacitated due to illness or injury. Even if you named someone in your Will to manage your estate, or watch over your children, that person will have no authority to do so while you’re alive.

Don’t Just Get a Will, Get an Estate Plan

With all the issues that using a Will for estate planning can create, you might be wondering why a Will is even used at all. The thing is, a Will isn’t the one-and-done solution that most people are led to believe.

Instead, a Will should be used as a piece of your overall estate plan, not as the entire plan itself. And ideally, your Will shouldn’t even need to be used at all.

An estate plan isn’t just one or two documents – it’s a range of tools and coordinated planning that makes sure everything and everyone you love is taken care of.

By using better tools like a Trust instead of a Will as your main tool for estate planning, you can direct what happens to your property while avoiding probate court entirely (aside from very limited filings) and ensuring the people you trust can step in and manage your assets immediately if you become incapacitated because of an illness or injury. In addition, any assets you put in the name of your Trust can remain entirely private, meaning the court and the public will never know what you own or who will inherit it after you’re gone.

When using a Trust-based estate plan, you’ll still have a Will, but your Will should only need to serve as a safety net to make sure that any assets that are accidentally left out of your Trust at your death are added back into your Trust.

Even more important than both a Will and a Trust, is an inventory of your assets so your family knows what you have, where it is, and how to find it when you become incapacitated or die. Without an inventory of your assets, your family will be lost when something happens to you. A comprehensive inventory updated throughout your lifetime is a critical, and often overlooked, piece of an estate plan that is not “just a Will”.

Protect Your Family and Make a Plan

If you’re ready to see how having an estate plan for your family is different than having “just a Will,” contact us today. We’ll review an inventory of everything you have and everyone you love, and together look at what would happen to your possessions and loved ones when something does happen. Then, I’ll help you develop a plan to make sure your loved ones are taken care of when you can’t be there and that your plan works for you, and for them, exactly as you want it – at your budget and within your desires. Most importantly, I don’t just create documents – I guide you and your family through every step of the process, now and at the time of your passing.

To get clear on what you really do need for yourself and the people you love, schedule your complimentary 15-minute call today.

This article is a service of August Law, a Personal Family Lawyer® Firm. We don’t just draft documents; we ensure you make informed and empowered decisions about life and death, for yourself and the people you love. That’s why we offer a Family Wealth Planning Session™, during which you will get more financially organized than you’ve ever been before and make all the best choices for the people you love.

Tags Estate Plan, Estate Planning, Estate Planning Attorney, Personal Family Lawyer®, Trust, Will

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