Developing an Estate Plan
At Spearing Law, we thoroughly understand the need for comprehensive estate plans that will address your specific requirements. Ensure you and your family are well protected with a comprehensive estate plan.
Estate planning is anticipating and providing for managing and disposing of a person’s estate once they pass away or become incapacitated. It gives you peace of mind: your plan, not the courts, decides how your assets pass to the people you choose. A well-constructed estate plan helps ensure your beneficiaries receive and control those assets while minimizing taxes. Living wills and enduring powers of attorney are also vital estate planning tools.
For some folk, a trust may be an appropriate tool to use. With a revocable living trust, you transfer your assets into the trust and appoint a trustee to manage them for your benefit. If you become ill or incapacitated, your trustee manages your affairs. When you pass away, your trustee distributes your assets directly to your beneficiaries. This avoids probate, the court process used for estates without a pre-determined distribution plan.
Asset Protection
To die, intestate is to die without a will and testament. In this case, Florida’s intestacy law dictates who inherits your assets and in what order. The assets generally make their way into the hands of your heirs, but it can take some time.
Anyone with accumulated assets needs to consider some kind of asset protection. Asset protection is a legal technique or techniques to protect assets from creditors. The State of Florida has some quite generous exemptions, such as the Florida Homestead.
Power of Attorney
A power of attorney is a legally binding document that enables the appointment of someone to manage your property, medical or financial affairs. You can limit the power to a particular task, such as disposing of a property, or grant it more broadly. It can be temporary or permanent, and it can take effect immediately or upon a specific event, such as a mental or physical disability. In Florida, you can revoke a POA by following a set of rules and steps.
Living Wills
Living Wills are documents that determine the type of life care decisions should you become incapacitated. It is an essential document to consider if you have a medical condition. A living will can alleviate the stress on loved ones, knowing they follow a set of pre-established considerations according to your wishes.
Well-structured estate plans have many benefits for you and your loved ones. Contact us today to help ensure you have life contingency planning in place.