Memphis attorney Vincent Perryman discusses Estate Planning with Attorney Angela Lawson

Memphis attorney Vincent Perryman discusses Estate Planning and what it is. Estate Planning is an area that involves many different types of law and is something you go through to achieve your testamentary goals and wishes upon your death. Estate planning is planning for what happens when you pass away. It is important because you need to have a plan for your belongings and yourself. If you do not plan for this the state of TENNESSEE has a plan for your things. The state will come in and divide your things the way it sees fit and this may not be the way you would like to see your things dispersed among your heirs.

With Estate Planning in Memphis some of the questions that need to be answered are how will you pass your belongings along to your heirs, how will your assets be preserved, how will your belongings be managed if you are not in a capacity to care for them, how will your health care be handled if you can no longer make decisions for yourself. You will also want to determine how you will handle the taxes that come out of your estate.

Some of the benefits of having your estate planned is having your assets dispersed according to your wishes. Having a plan will also protect your beneficiaries and protect your children in the event they are minors and cannot care for themselves. Estate planning also reduces the disputes that may come forward if your wishes are not already laid out. Sometimes people like to leave a legacy in the form of charitable donations from their estate and this can all be laid out in the estate planning process.

The documents that make up an estate plan are your will for your administrator of your estate, an advanced directive in case you cannot make decisions for yourself this will determine what happens to your quality of life, health care power of attorney to make decisions about your health, and a financial durable power of attorney that manages your financial state while you are still living but cannot make decisions on your own. Then there is also living trusts. These are legal documents that should be handled by a Memphis Attorney.

It is important to have a Memphis Attorney draft your estate plan documents because there are a lot of templates on the Internet that help you create the proper forms but they are very generic and leave out crucial information that may only pertain to you. In addition there is a lot of legal jargon that may need to be explained to you in easy to understand terms. Estate laws vary greatly from state to state as well so having an experienced Memphis Attorney help you draft your documents is important.

There are many documents that make up an estate.

• A will: appoints an administrator of your estate to carry out your wishes for your assets, makes sure all creditors are paid, and all your beneficiaries are paid properly. A lot of the instructions that will be on a form downloaded from the Internet will not fully explain all the legal instructions necessary to execute a will. A will is not considered legal without a certain set of step followed. It requires more than just a notary.
• A Living Will or Advanced directive determines if you want to be on life support or not. Without this document someone else will be making this decision for you.
• Power of Attorney for health care is a document that helps people make decisions about the treatment for you will receive in the event you cannot make these decisions on your own. There are 2 types of Power of Attorney, Non springing power of attorney which comes into affect immediately or the other springing power of attorney that waits until you become incapacitated to take affect. A financial power of attorney takes care of all financial matters for you. With power of attorneys it is good to have a backup for your first choice in the event they are not available.
• A living trust is a document that functions similar to a will except you are a trustee of your own trust.

A good way to decide what type of estate planning you need is to talk with a Memphis Estate Planning attorney in order to determine your needs. Consult an attorney and come prepared with all your financial records and documents that will help decide what is necessary to include in your estate planning.

When using a will it will become public knowledge that can be researched and looked up by anyone. When using a trust it is all private information. A trust is more expensive, but there is more paper work and actions required by the attorney. An experienced Memphis estate planner will know ways to get around listing a complete inventory of assets.

Life insurance policies should be included in your estate planning, payable on death bank accounts and multiple trusts that can be setup, and many other items that should be included in your estate plan.

A taxable estate is an estate that is equivalent to over a million dollars. Anything at this level should have a qualified estate planner. To determine how to find an experienced estate planner it is good to have them give you advice on things that will help protect your estate plan. If they cannot answer general questions about setting up your estate in a general interview with them it is a good idea to find someone else to handle your estate.