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Estate planning can be a complicated and overwhelming process if you don’t know what you’re doing. That’s especially true considering how intricate much of it can be. Coupled with that are the emotions you could feel during the process.
You’ll be designating assets in the event of your passing, after all. If you’re going through the process, you’ll likely want to make estate planning easier by working with a probate attorney. As simple as that sounds, it can often be harder to put into practice.
With three estate planning steps and tips, you can make it much more straightforward. It’s worth diving into how they can help you.
Make Estate Planning Easier: 3 Top Steps
1. Do An Inventory
Before you can start planning your estate, you’ll need to know exactly what your estate is. You’ll need to have a list of your assets and liabilities so you can start planning for them after you’ve passed.
These will be split across tangible and intangible assets, with your tangible ones including:
Real estate
Collectibles
Vehicles
Personal possessions
Your intangible assets could also include insurance policies, stocks and bonds, and multiple other assets. Make sure to keep these in mind when planning your estate. They’ll need to be properly accounted for during the estate planning process.
2. Work With A Specialized Firm
Planning your estate is a complicated process, as well as a legal one. It’s vital you work with a legal professional during it, as it’ll make sure you go about it the right way. It also makes sure everything’s properly registered and accounted for, making your estate plan legal.
Hiring a professional law firm for this as early as possible is recommended. They can guide you through the specific steps you need to take to make sure you have your estate in order. While this comes at a cost, it makes sure your assets can be dispersed the way you want them to be.
3. Establish Directives
When you’re planning your estate, you’ll need to establish specific directives. While any legal professional you work with will help you with these, it’s best to be aware of what these directives are before starting the process.
These are:
A trust
Financial power of attorney
Medical care directive
Limited power of attorney
Once you’ve your directives established, you’ll be much farther in the estate planning process than you’d think. It’s simply a matter of figuring out specifically which directives you want to put into place.
Make Estate Planning Easier: Wrapping Up
You can make estate planning easier by taking a few particular steps. With the stress, hassle, and emotion that can often be involved in the process, it’s easy to see why you’d want to avoid it. With three specific estate planning steps and tips, you shouldn’t have a problem getting rid of much of the hassle.
Working with a legal professional, doing an inventory, and establishing directives will all be large parts of this. Combined with a bit of time and effort, you should get through planning your estate much faster and easier.