Let’s face it: aging and death are the least fun parts of life to deal with.
Thus, no one really wants to contact a California Estate Planning Attorney.
But once you realize the time and money costs involved with not having an estate plan in place, this insight alone can be enough to ignite the desire to get it done.
Why Hire a California Estate Planning Attorney?
Your estate plan is a collection of written legal documents that set forth the intentions, instructions, and desires you have (as the grantor) concerning the distribution of your assets, and the management of your health.
A California estate planning attorney will ask pivotal questions to help provide you with an estate planning path that accommodates you and that makes sense given your unique circumstances.
Your attorneys will assist you in making strategic decisions to help you save time and money, based on what California estate planning laws allow.
The solutions your attorney will provide for you will normally manifest themselves in a core set of estate planning documents.
There are many types of such documents, but a few of the essential ones are:
- Living Trust
- Power of Attorney
- Advance Healthcare Directive
- Memorial and Services Memorandum
- Pour-over will
Below, please see a brief summary and description of each of these documents.
The Living Trust
The California revocable living trust is the big kahuna of all the estate planning documents.
This core document will name the grantors, trustees, beneficiaries, assets, and all the who’s, how’s, what’s, and when’s of property distribution and management of the estate.
In modern day estate planning, the living trust basically takes the place of the will.
Wills are still used (see below), but in general, living trusts do everything a will does–but living trusts do them even more quickly and cost effectively than wills do.
This is because a will must be processed in probate court, which takes between a few months, up to several years in some cases, and includes hefty court fees.
Whereas, a living trust gives the trustee the power to act independently of the court’s involvement and will save your estate a significant amount in court fines and fees.
Powers of Attorney
A power of attorney “POA” is a legal document that allows a person (the “principal”) to assign a right to another person (the “agent”).
In California, the power of attorney is used to assign financial rights; for example, a bank account owner (the principal) can assign management rights of that account to another person (the agent).
Assigned rights under a power of attorney can be limited or expanded, according to the terms of the principal-agent agreement reached.
When it comes to a principal assigning his rights regarding his healthcare to an agent, as opposed to assigning his financial rights, California uses a legal document called the Advance Healthcare Directive, which in some states is referred to as a Healthcare Power of Attorney.
Click here to learn more about various Powers of Attorney Types.
Advance Healthcare Directive
Humans age, grow ill, and will potentially lose some or all of their senses and faculties.
It is therefore necessary to put a plan in place before you lose your ability to think rationally or to communicate clearly.
That plan is called your California Advance Healthcare Directive.
In your Advance Healthcare Directive, you appoint an agent to communicate with healthcare professionals on your behalf and to help implement your healthcare preferences during a time you may be unable to do so personally.
Your healthcare plan may include details and instructions for your agent such as your preferences regarding intubation, organ donation, medical procedures, and medications.
With a little time and thought in advance, you can save your loved ones a lot of stress and potentially even arguments that would ensue from trying to ascertain your wishes without your Advance Healthcare Directive in place.
And don’t worry–we will help you make sure you don’t miss any important decisions that are likely to come up later in life.
Memorial and Services Memorandum
During a time of loss, if you can avoid it, why not free your loved ones from the burden of making decisions about flower arrangements and musical selections at your funeral, during a time that might be better spent with family, or better spent focused on the grieving process?
A California estate planning attorney will help you prepare a document that expresses your wishes for your memorial service, burial, and other such details, so your loved ones are not left guessing.
You don’t even have to use your imagination–we have templates, questions, and frameworks to help guide you in preparing as many details as you care to plan out ahead of time.
The Pour-over Will
The pour-over will California form is a “just-in-case” document drafted to prepare for the eventuality that property intended to be transferred into the living trust, by some defect, did not make it into the trust.
The pour-over will steps in and takes any property accidentally omitted from the trust and “pours it back in” to the living trust to be distributed according to the grantor’s wishes.
Although the pour-over will does technically have to be processed in probate court, the pour-over will is used in conjunction with the living trust for the sole purpose of making sure the trust controls all estate property intended to be controlled by the trust.
In the event a pour-over will needs to be processed in probate court, it would be a much quicker process than if you used a will to control your entire estate, because the pour-over will is only dealing with one, or a small number, of assets that were accidentally not transferred into the living trust.
Talk to a California Estate Planning Attorney Today
Thoughts and conversations around the topics of death and distributing resources to heirs can cause feelings of anxiety, simply because the future is unknown, and for the most part, out of one’s control.
These feelings are completely understandable, and normal!
Problem is, these uncomfortable topics will never go away until you address them, and the good news is: we can help you make this process as efficient, enjoyable, and smooth as possible!
Just click here to set up a consultation today.