20 Aug Why You Need an Estate Planning Attorney

Phelps LaClair is a second generation estate planning law firm serving Chandler, Mesa, Phoenix and Scottsdale. Our business is designing estate plans that will protect your assets while you are living and help you to pass them on to your beneficiaries when the time comes. The Covid-19 epidemic has caused many people to recognize the importance of having a will. You need to prepare for the future while you can. In a recent post, we discussed some of the pitfalls of a do-it-yourself will. In this post, we discuss several reasons why you need a professional estate planning attorney.

Will and Trust Administration

The legal hurdles are often complex in closing an estate, so it is important to have the advice and help of experienced attorneys. With a trust, for instance, a successor trustee will need to pay the debts of the deceased and distribute the assets of the estate. If real estate is to be sold, that will also fall to the trustee. Final tax preparation and filing is another important task that needs to be completed. Having professional guidance to assist with the administration of the trust can go a long way toward avoiding personal liability and seeing that all goes smoothly according to the desires of the trust maker.

Incapacitation

The time for planning is before you need it. In the event that you become incapacitated, you will be at the mercy of other people making decisions for you. Hopefully, you will have prepared an advance directive with an estate planning attorney. This document will spell out how you want to be treated and what life sustaining measures are acceptable to you. If you are diagnosed with a serious or life threatening disease, you should call us immediately. We can help you with your healthcare documents and powers of attorney. We can bring you peace of mind knowing that your family and beneficiaries are going to be taken care of.

Children

Our children grow up under our tutelage, but sometimes they don’t take our experience to heart when they are young adults. If you have children that suffer from addictions, mental instability or relationship problems, an estate planning attorney can help you protect your assets and their inheritance. Issues such as substance abuse, chronic debt, gambling addiction and poor choice of friends need to be isolated from an endless supply of money. An estate planning attorney can design a trust for you and your child that will provide safeguards against losing an inheritance due to irresponsible behavior.

Prenuptial Agreement

Statistics over the past several decades show a small decrease in divorce rates. Still, around 39% of first marriages end in divorce. Second (or third) marriages are even more at risk of divorce. If you—or your child—is engaged, you should consider whether a prenuptial agreement is right for you. This agreement fixes a couple’s assets so that they can be divided fairly at death or divorce. Blended families present a special challenge for the distribution of assets. An estate planning attorney can design a plan that is fair, equitable and thorough in case of divorce, separation or death of a spouse.

Estate Planning Professionals

Estate planning is much too serious to entrust to a nameless, faceless online entity. When your wealth and your family’s future is at stake, you cannot afford to risk everything for the supposed convenience of an internet lawyer. You need a professional estate planning attorney that focuses solely on estate planning. Phelps LaClair has 40 years of experience writing bulletproof estate plans for our clients. We go over every detail of your estate to design a custom plan that meets your goals and desires. Nothing is left to chance. Planning for the future with Phelps LaClair is the best move you can make in these perilous times. Call us for a free, no-obligation consultation. It is time to secure your family’s future wellbeing.

Images used under creative commons license (Commerical Use) 08/20/2020 Photo by Melinda Gimpel on Unsplash