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Are you looking for estate planning lawyers in Atlanta?
Or maybe you’re wondering if you even need an Atlanta estate planning attorney.
Either way, we’re going to cover:
Let’s dig in.
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:
An estate planning law firm understands numerous practice areas.
And they provide several different legal services like:
Atlanta estate planning lawyers guide you through estate planning and give you legal advice.
They also will guide your family through the probate process.
This is where the client relationship is very important.
We can guide you through multiple stages of your estate plan and strategy.
Estate planning lawyers in Atlanta understand how your estate will be:
Atlanta estate law practices will also help you with estate planning tasks like:
Who can benefit from estate planning in Atlanta?
Literally, everyone needs estate planning.
Some common reasons a person would need an estate plan are:
Estate planning is important because estate plans protect:
Experienced Atlanta 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.
You’re probably wondering what estate planning legal documents you need?
Most people only think about a last will and testament in Atlanta 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 beneficiaries.
And without the government getting involved in your estate’s distribution.
Here are the estate planning documents you need that your Atlanta estate planning law firm will give you.
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.
With a trust in Georgia, 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.
A Medicaid trust helps plan for the health care of a loved one or yourself.
Medicaid has an asset limit for you to qualify for this service.
The Medicaid asset limit is $2,000 for a single person.
And $3,000 for a married couple.
Meaning that you cannot own more than $2,000 – $3,000 and qualify for Medicaid.
Our estate planning law firm in Atlanta can set up a Medicaid trust for you and a loved one.
When your assets get placed in these trusts, the trust takes ownership of them.
And there are no assets in your name anymore.
Which allows you to qualify for Medicaid.
A durable power of attorney in Georgia is handy if you become incapacitated and can’t make decisions for yourself.
A durable power of attorney in Georgia can appoint someone to make decisions for you.
A healthcare power of attorney in Georgia is commonly referred to as an advanced care directive.
A healthcare power of attorney in Georgia gives someone else the authority to make decisions about your healthcare due to your incapacity.
Your Georgia 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 there is a healthcare power of attorney in place.
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?
Atlanta estate planning lawyers’ estate planning costs fall into two categories:
Atlanta estate planning attorneys will charge flat fees for simple estate planning services.
Your Atlanta 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, Georgia 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:
The only reason that an Atlanta estate planning attorney would charge you by the hour is if you have a complex estate.
Atlanta estate planning attorneys will charge you by the hour if your estate planning requires:
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.
When it comes to what happens if you die without a will, there are three categories to look at:
You will need to hire a probate attorney to manage your estate.
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 in the Atlanta area.
The probate courts will pick someone to be the executor of the estate.
This can be a loved one like a spouse, child, or even a third party person.
Let’s look at Georgia’s 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.
The disclaimer is that you’d need an estate plan to make this happen.
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.
A Georgia estate planning attorney will make sure your family pays the least amount of estate taxes.
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.
You want peace of mind knowing 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.
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We will set your estate plan up for you correctly so you don’t have to worry about ANY of this.
Our law office serves Atlanta and all of the surrounding areas, like:
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This website is for informational purposes only. It is not legal advice. Consult an attorney if you are seeking legal advice.
