Most people choose to believe that making a will or trust is the only thing they have to do during estate planning, but that’s not all! You have to take other steps in estate planning to ensure that your property or assets go to the right heirs. In a successful estate plan, you should also assign an additional power of control to a trustable family member, so they can access your real estate assets.
Here are some must-have estate planning tools every real estate owner should know about.
A Will or Trust
You already know that preparing a will or trust is the first step to ensure proper inheritance, but do you know that you should create one, even if you have minimal assets? Preparing and signing a will or trust requires the presence of a lawyer and witnesses.
Attorney Power
As mentioned above, you also need to give a trustable person a power of attorney to make financial decisions on your behalf when you can’t do that. For instance, a court can decide what to do with your property against your will. Having a power of attorney means that your agent can make the decisions on your behalf.
Beneficiary Designations
Do you know that many of your possessions can pass down to your heirs without stating them in the will? Therefore, you need to name a beneficiary, so such possessions only pass according to your will and not the court’s decision.
Letter of Intent
In simple words, a letter of intent is a simple document that you leave to your attorney or beneficiary, determining what you want them to do with a particular asset after your demise. This letter doesn’t have a legal value, but the court can distribute your assets through this if the will becomes invalid.
Guardianship Designations
Another real estate plan that few people know about is guardianship designations. If you have young children or are planning to have children, you should pick a guardian who’ll use your assets to raise your children financially.
Without these estate plans, the court can assign your assets to any heir. Therefore, you should consult an estate planning Queens. At Ledwidge and Associates, our estate law attorney Brooklyn can help you plan your will, trust, or pick a guardian or beneficiary.
Contact us to hire one of the most-experienced estate lawyer jamaica ny today!
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