Fair Oaks, CA Estate Planning

How many times have you heard about wars erupting in otherwise quiet families after the parents pass away? It is sad, but true. When a loved one dies without having made his or her decisions known, the descendants can act irrationally, and conflicts fester. Emotions run high for those who are grieving a loss. With an estate plan, confusion and fighting is replaced with order and harmony. Do yourself and your loved ones a favor, and get prepared. Farrell, Fraulob & Brown specialize in estate planning for all of Fair Oaks.

Avoiding Probate

Probate - the word itself can be scary. It does not sound good and it isn't. Probate will happen when any estate greater than $100,000 is left behind, even with a last will and testament. A will simply states your beneficiaries, while paying all your debts and actually transferring the deeds and accounts that were formerly in your possession is all part of the probate process. In order to help your beneficiaries avoid the legal system, your estate plan should include a living trust.

The Living Trust

The living trust is a legal entity that holds your property for you. You are the trustee and oversee the trust. Therefore, you still use all of the assets in the trust. You live in your house, you drive your cars, you pay your bills from the trust bank account, just as you lived before. The property, however, really belongs to the trust. If you are incapacitated, control can be temporarily relinquished to a named member of the trust. When you die, your estate passes immediately to your beneficiaries, because they are listed as members of the trust. One or more people that you list are responsible for distributing the estate of the trust to your inheritors. Since the trust has title to everything, and not the deceased, the courts involvement is not needed, if the trust meets all legal requirements.

Power of Attorney for Health Care and Assets

The greater number of our clients in Fair Oaks also want a Power of Attorney for Health Care and a Power of Attorney for Asset Management. If you cannot speak for yourself, due to injury or illness, a power of attorney appoints an agent ahead of time to speak for you and handle your financial affairs. How often relatives spend valued time and effort fighting over health procedures, end of life decisions and memorial rites! Specifying advance health care directives lets your loved ones and doctors know just what procedures you are willing to undergo in order to maintain your life. Without such directives, it is possible for people to remain hooked up to live-saving machines for years, with no hope of a normal life. In many cases, this was not in accord with their wish, but the individual never specified in advance what their medical choices would be or who would be responsible for making those judgments. Even worse, their estate can be tied up in the legal system while they languish in a hospital. The Power of Attorney for Health Care and Power Attorney for Asset Management prevent all of these complications.

Think Ahead

An estate plan contains provisions for your end-of-life procedures, how your estate will be allocated, and who will speak for you if you lose the ability to do so. Make these decisions now and give yourself great peace of mind, knowing that whatever happens, you are prepared. Clients seeking estate planning in Fair Oaks may call Farrell, Fraulob & Brown at (916) 442-5835 today or contact us through our website to chat with an attorney about a family estate plan. You will be glad you did.