While many people may not consider what will happen to their personal assets after they pass away, it is important to put together a plan to avoid the state being responsible for your belongings. Constructing a comprehensive estate plan can ensure your surviving family members and beneficiaries, as well as state courts, are clear on how you want your affairs to be handled.
However, drafting a plan that is both thorough and legally valid can be tricky without help from a seasoned attorney. By retaining a qualified Woodstock trusts and estates lawyer, you could make this entire process much easier on you and your family, as well as ensure your plan covers everything you want it to while meeting all the legal requirements.
State law imposes fairly few restrictions on what makes for a legally enforceable last will and testament. Wills are required to be in writing and signed by the person drafting it and two witnesses. While filling out a basic will template online may get the job done quickly, it may do nothing to prevent a testator from accidentally leaving out key instructions or ensuring a simple probate process for their loved ones.
It is usually a good idea to work with a Woodstock trusts and estates attorney when drafting a will, as their experience could come in handy when it comes to crafting a document that is both easy to execute upon and hard to misinterpret. Legal counsel could also help modify outdated wills through the drafting of codicils, as well as help write a new will to completely cancel out an old one.
Of course, even a well-written will generally has to go through probate before its directives can be enforced, and that process can be challenging. In the state of Georgia, probate can take from 6 to 9 months to get through the entire process, even if a decedent owns real property and has financial accounts in their name. This leaves the heirs and beneficiaries waiting while a court meddles in their loved one’s affairs. Guidance from a seasoned attorney can be essential to ensuring probate goes as smoothly as possible, or potentially even avoiding it altogether.
In many situations, putting certain assets into a trust can help shorten or eliminate the need for probate and simplify distribution to beneficiaries after a testator passes away. However, identifying what the right type of trust is for a particular situation can be hard for any individual to manage by themselves. A trusts and estates lawyer in Woodstock could help with both the formation and execution of revocable and irrevocable trusts, as well as with modifications should they become necessary.
Unfortunately, very little about trusts and estates law is simple, and given how important your estate plan can be to your family’s future financial security, it is essential you retain reliable representation. A dedicated Woodstock trusts and estates lawyer could be your legal lifeline from start to finish of the estate planning process. To schedule your initial consultation, call today.
