Gold River, CA Estate Planning

How many times have you heard about battles erupting in otherwise happy families after the parents pass away? It is sad, but true. When a loved one dies without having made his or her wishes known, the offspring can act illogically, and conflicts arise. Emotions run high for those who are handling a loss. With an estate plan, confusion and disagreement is replaced with logic and accord. Do yourself and your relatives a favor, and be prepared. Farrell, Fraulob & Brown specialize in estate planning for all of Gold River.

Avoiding Probate

Probate - the term itself can be chilling. It does not sound good and it isn't. Probate is what takes place when any estate beyond $100,000 is left behind, even if you created a last will and testament. A will simply discloses 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. To help your beneficiaries circumvent the legal system, your estate plan should include a living trust.

The Living Trust

The living trust is a legal entity that owns your worldly goods 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 transferred to a named member of the trust. When you die, your property passes automatically to your beneficiaries, because they are listed as members of the trust. One or more people that you list are responsible for distributing the property 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 Gold River also request a Power of Attorney for Health Care and a Power of Attorney for Asset Management. In the event that you cannot decide for yourself, due to injury or illness, a power of attorney selects an agent ahead of time to decide for you and care for your financial affairs. How often family and friends spend valuable time and effort distressing over health questions, end of life decisions and burial rites! Writing out advance health care directives lets your relatives and medical professionals know just what processes you are willing to undertake in order to maintain your life. Without such directives, it is possible for people to remain connected to live-saving equipment for years, with no hope of a return to normal life. In many cases, this was not in accord with their personal beliefs, but the individual never specified in advance what their medical choices would be or who would be responsible for making those decisions. Even worse, their estate can be tied up in the legal system while they lie helpless in a hospital. The Power of Attorney for Health Care and Power Attorney for Asset Management prevent all of these problems.

Think Ahead

Farrell, Fraulob & Brown are prepared to help clients in Gold River think through their estate plan. Write a rock solid set of documents for the benefit of yourself and your relatives. Call (916) 442-5835 today to set up a simple consultation or contact us via our website.