What Are the Key Components of an Estate Plan?

The key components of an estate plan include your will, powers of attorney, and trusts. These documents convey your wishes to legal and medical professionals and remove the decision-making burdens from your family. In some cases, they help preserve your assets.

Establishing a legally sound estate plan is very important as we get older. Unfortunately, many people put it off until it is too late. Or, they rely on do-it-yourself methods that don’t fully protect them. When it comes time to put together your plan, talk to a knowledgeable elder law attorney.

Our estate planning lawyers in Woodstock have served hundreds of Georgia families and guided them through the complex and sometimes frustrating legal challenges that come with aging. Call today to schedule your free Legacy Planning Meeting and tell us how we can help. 

Last Will and Testament

Your will is one of the most important pieces of your estate plan. This is a legal document that outlines what happens to your assets when you pass away. You may name an executor to carry out your wishes and assign guardians for minor children if necessary.

Your will directs the probate court on how to distribute your estate after you pass away. It is your opportunity to make your wishes known and provide instructions. If you do not have a will, the probate court will follow Georgia’s intestate laws instead. 

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Durable Financial Power of Attorney

Your financial power of attorney document states your wishes regarding who will manage your affairs if you become ill or injured and unable to make decisions for yourself. You may name one or more agents to handle your banking, bill paying, investments, and other duties. 

The durable part is critical, as this is what allows your document to remain in effect after you become incapacitated. Without a financial power of attorney, your family may need to petition the probate court for a conservatorship so they may have a say in your financial concerns. 

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Georgia Advance Directive for Health Care

Like your financial power of attorney, your medical power of attorney allows you to name an agent to make decisions on your part when you can’t, this time for healthcare. In Georgia, this is called the Georgia Advance Directive for Health Care, and it also includes your Living Will. 

A Living Will states your wishes for life-sustaining treatment if you suffer a catastrophic episode, and it relieves your family of difficult decisions. However, without your Advance Directive for Health Care in place, your family may need to seek guardianship to be involved in your care. 

Absolute Protection Trust™

Placing assets in a trust is a smart way to protect them during your lifetime, and can help them bypass the probate process after you pass away. Revocable trusts let you make changes during your life, whereas irrevocable trusts offer stronger legal protection but remove assets from your control. 

Nelson Elder Care Law offers the Absolute Protection Trust™. This unique estate planning tool gives you the powerful asset protection of an irrevocable trust, along with the ability to make changes as your life evolves. For many people, this is a superior choice compared with other types of trusts. 

Beneficiary Designations

Your beneficiary designations name people who will receive funds from things like insurance policies and retirement accounts after you pass away. While you likely would have named beneficiaries when you started the accounts, the information may be dated. 

An elder law attorney can review important documents and make sure your beneficiary designations are current and name who you wish. Without clear designations, your assets may be paid to your estate, which will need to go through probate before dispersal, potentially to the wrong party. 

Guardianship Designations

Many people include guardianship information in their wills. However, separate documents can be helpful in some situations. For example, if you are unable to make decisions, your will won’t take effect right away. Instead, you can name temporary guardians to make choices for you.

This is smart when you have minor children under your care, but you can also name a successor guardian for special needs adult wards. While the probate court makes the final decision on guardianship, your wishes can sway their choice. 

Get Help With Your Estate Plan

Some of the key components of your estate plan are your durable financial power of attorney, your advance directive, and a strong trust. You don’t have to wait until you are older to create a plan. With the right strategy, you can rest easy knowing you are prepared if disaster happens.

Alternatively, your family will be left scrambling for answers if you suddenly become injured or ill. And, the people in charge of making decisions on your behalf may not be those you would have chosen yourself. Our elder law attorneys can build a plan that is tailored to your needs. 

For more than a decade, Nelson Elder Care Law has been here to help Georgia families deal with life’s curveballs. Call now to schedule your free Legacy Planning Meeting and begin creating an estate plan that protects you, your assets, and your loved ones.