What Is Estate Planning?

You'll Walk Away With An Estate Plan That ACTUALLY Protects Your Family's Inheritance

Without the best estate planning attorneys, you risk:

Your spouse losing control of the estate.
Creditors targeting your children’s inheritance.
Litigators coming after the inheritance.
The government choosing who gets what.
The government assigning an executor.

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Are you looking for an estate planning attorney?

Or maybe you’re wondering if you even need an estate planning attorney.

Either way, we’re going to cover:

What Is Estate Planning?
What Does An Estate Planning Attorney Do?
Who Needs Estate Planning?
What Estate Planning Documents You Need
How Much Does Estate Planning Costs?
What Happens If You Die Without A Will?
Why Hiring The Right Estate Planning Attorneys Matters

Let’s dig in.

What Is Estate Planning?

What is estate planning?

Estate planning determines who receives your assets when you die.

It also determines who handles managing the distribution of your estate.

Proper estate planning ensures your family receives your estate with minimized:

estate taxes
gift taxes
income taxes
and other taxes

What Does An Estate Planning Attorney Do?

Estate planning attorneys guide you through estate planning.

They also will guide your family through the probate process.

Estate planning attorneys understand how your estate will be:

inventoried
appraised and valued
distributed to the heirs
taxed

Estate planning attorneys will also help you with estate planning tasks like:

creating a last will and testament
choosing your beneficiaries
creating the appropriate power of attorneys
finding ways to reduce and avoid estate taxes
finding ways to avoid the probate process
setting up trusts for your family

Who Needs Estate Planning?

Who needs estate planning?

Literally, everyone needs estate planning.

Some common reasons a person would need an estate plan are:

They have assets to pass to people (bank accounts, retirement accounts, vehicles, etc.)
They have children that need a guardian named.
They want to minimize the probate process and the government’s involvement in it.
They want to reduce taxes on their assets.
Name an executor to distribute the estate.
Setting up funeral arrangements.
Creating or updating beneficiaries on life insurance, IRAs, and 401ks.

Why Is Estate Planning Important?

Estate planning is important because estate plans protect:

the beneficiaries of the estate by keeping your estate out of the court system
child by naming a guardian so they don’t end up in foster care
heirs from massive tax losses on their inheritance

Good estate planning attorneys protect your family from government involvement in your estate.

They also increase the amount of money that you’re able to pass down by reducing taxes.

What Estate Planning Documents You Need?

You’re probably wondering what estate planning documents you need?

Most people only think about a last will and testament for their estate plans.

A will is the most common estate planning document that you need.

But a will may not be ALL that you need to make sure your estate goes to the right persons.

And without the government getting involved in your estate’s distribution.

Here are the estate planning documents you need that your estate planning attorneys will give you.

Last Will And Testament

A will is a written document that lists how you’d like your belongings distributed after you’re gone.

If you want your nephew to have your coin collection, you can put that in your will.

Trusts

With a trust, you can put your assets into a living trust for your benefit while you’re still living.

Upon your death, your belongings go to the person you name in the trust.

When you do this, you will not need your estate to pass through probate court.

Related: Disadvantages Of A Trust

Durable Power Of Attorney

A durable power of attorney is handy if you become incapacitated and can’t make decisions for yourself.

A durable power of attorney can appoint someone to make decisions for you.

Healthcare Power Of Attorney

A healthcare power of attorney is commonly referred to as an advanced care directive.

A healthcare power of attorney gives someone else the authority to make decisions about your healthcare due to your incapacity.

Your estate planning attorneys will set this up for you.

They will make sure that your healthcare directive follows your direction.

This keeps doctors from making medical decisions for you.

For example, you may have religious beliefs that the doctors will not follow unless a healthcare power of attorney is in place.

Beneficiary Designations

Some assets can bypass a will or trust altogether if you designate a beneficiary.

These include assets like life insurance and 401k plans.

Otherwise, the court may decide who inherits all those funds.

So, how much does estate planning cost?

How Much Does Estate Planning Costs?

Estate planning attorneys’ estate planning costs fall into two categories:

flat fee estate planning costs, or;
billable hours for estate planning costs

Flat Fee Estate Planning Costs

Estate planning attorneys will charge flat fees for simple estate planning services.

Your estate planning attorneys will be able to assess whether your estate plan fits into a flat fee structure.

They will look at your financial status, family situation, and any special considerations and know what planning tools you will need.

For the average person, estate planning attorneys will charge a flat fee for the estate plan.

A flat fee estate plan includes the most common estate planning documents like:

a simple will
power of attorney for finances and property
a power of attorney for healthcare decisions
a living will outlining end of life decisions
an appointment of guardianship for parents

The only reason that an estate planning attorney would charge you by the hour is if you have a complex estate.

Hourly Estate Planning Costs

Estate planning attorneys will charge you by the hour if your estate planning requires:

extra sophistication in planning (businesses, multiple trusts, corporations, etc.)
time coordinating with other professionals (i.e., financial planners)

Sometimes your estate planning attorney cannot reasonably predict how much effort your estate planning will require.

In this case, they will charge you by the hour for the estate planning.

When your estate planning attorney charges by the hour, they will ask you to pay a retainer fee.

If they don’t work as long as they thought they would, they will refund you a portion of your retainer fee.

Next, let’s talk about what happens if you die without a will.

Related: How To File A Will

What Happens If You Die Without A Will?

When it comes to what happens if you die without a will, there are three categories to look at:

your money (i.e., retirement accounts, bank accounts, debts, etc.)
your children (who gets them)
taxes (your spouse losing their marital deduction

Dying Without A Will And Your Money

When you die without a will, your estate gets split up per intestacy laws.

This means that the courts will determine who gets what, regardless of what you wanted to happen.

This requires your estate to go through probate court.

The probate courts will pick someone to be the executor of the estate.

This can be a spouse, child, or even a third party person.

Let’s look at the intestacy laws.

If you have a spouse and children, they will split your assets 50/50.

Your spouse would get 50% and your children would split the remaining 50%.

If you’re like my grandma, then you’d like your spouse to keep 100% so they don’t run out of money.

You’d need an estate plan to make this happen.

Dying Without A Will And Your Children

When you die without a will, the courts decide what to do with your children.

The judge will determine who gets guardianship based on the best interests of the child.

But, most likely, the judge won’t give guardianship to the person of your choice.

And if the judge feels like there are no good options, your child could end up in the foster care system.

Dying Without A Will And Your Taxes

An estate planning attorney will make sure your family pays the least amount of taxes on your estate.

Under Federal law, your estate is taxed by 40 percent if it’s worth over $11.58 million.

Anything under that amount is generally exempt from federal taxes.

State taxes are an entirely different story.

Especially if you pass away before writing a will.

Why Hiring The Right Estate Planning Attorneys Matters

You want to make sure that your family is set up.

You don’t want your kids going into the foster system if something happens to you.

You don’t want the state to decide how to distribute your estate.

You don’t want your heirs to lose half of their inheritance to unnecessary taxes.

You don’t want family members who are disowned to get your assets.

You don’t want your estate to get stuck in probate for 12+ months.

Fill out the form below.

We will set your estate plan up for you correctly so you don’t have to worry about ANY of this.

You'll Walk Away With An Estate Plan That ACTUALLY Protects Your Family's Inheritance

You'll Walk Away With An Estate Plan That ACTUALLY Protects Your Family's Inheritance

The Hive Law Has Been Featured In

What Is Estate Planning?

What Does An Estate Planning Attorney Do?