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Estate planning is the process of preparing for the management and distribution of your assets—your estate—after your passing. Contrary to what some might think, estate planning isn’t just for the super-wealthy. Your estate can be as modest as a single-family home and a few bank accounts.
The central document in estate planning is usually a revocable living trust, which outlines how your assets will be handled. Alongside this, there are supplemental documents, including a will. If you have children, your will should designate guardians for them.
Estate planning also often includes power of attorney and advanced healthcare directives, which are essential if you become incapacitated. Other elements might include personal property memorandum forms and trust transfer deeds to move property into your trust. In some cases, you may even set up an LLC, with your trust as the owner, to manage certain assets.
Estate planning is vital for so many families in California because it helps you avoid the probate process. Probate can be a lengthy, stressful, and expensive ordeal, often taking two years or more to complete and costing a significant portion of your estate—potentially $30,000 to $50,000 or even more. This cost is typically a percentage of the total value of your estate.
Without proper estate planning, your family could face delays and complications due to court backlogs, missed appointments, or unexpected issues. By creating a trust, you can bypass this drawn-out process so that your family’s future is protected and that the transfer of your assets to them goes smoothly.
A comprehensive estate plan in California includes several key components:
These are typically the individuals who own the estate. It’s important that you clearly define who the grantors are in the estate plan.
The estate plan should identify the trustees, or those who are responsible for managing the trust, as well as any backup trustees who can step in if the primary trustees are unable to fulfill their duties.
These individuals are responsible for carrying out the terms of your will. Designating who will serve as your executor, and ensuring that your wishes are honored, is absolutely crucial.
This includes a thorough listing of all your assets, such as bank accounts, brokerage accounts, business interests, tangible assets, and even digital assets. Your estate plan needs to account for all these assets.
While these don’t necessarily need to be part of the trust, it’s important to ensure that they have individual beneficiaries designated. This way, even if you don’t have a trust, these assets can pass directly to the beneficiaries without going through the probate process.
Many people mistakenly believe that estate planning is an involved and stressful process. However, this doesn’t necessarily have to be the case—especially with a firm like Insight Legal. We prioritize making the entire process as easy and straightforward as possible for you in several ways.
Contrary to what many think, estate planning can be a fairly smooth process. With our firm, once you provide the necessary information—usually a filled-out questionnaire and a copy of your grant deed if you own property—we typically draft the required documents within one to two weeks. In urgent situations, we can even prepare documents within 24 hours.
We pride ourselves on being highly communicative. Whether through email, telephone, or Zoom, we are always available to answer your questions and address any concerns you may have. This level of communication ensures that you’re never left in the dark and that your experience is as seamless as possible.
The final signing of your documents is also straightforward. We provide a nice leather binder, a thumb drive with scanned copies, and a box folder for life where your documents will be stored. Everything is organized and prepared for you, making it easy to manage and access your estate planning documents.
Unlike some firms that delegate client interactions to paralegals, our attorneys are directly involved in the process. We personally meet with clients, especially at the final signing, ensuring that all your questions are answered and that you’re comfortable with every aspect of your estate plan.
We also offer ongoing support for trust administration. If something happens to you, we can be a resource for your fiduciaries, providing them with the guidance they need to manage your estate according to your wishes.
For more information on Estate Planning, an initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (510) 916-2100 today.