Carlsbad Estate Planning Lawyer

Estate planning is a crucial process to protect your wealth and establish support for your loved ones upon your passing. Our Carlsbad estate planning law firm is here to help you navigate this sometimes-overwhelming process and tailor an estate plan specific to your needs. Estate planning involves several possible documents and processes, and each plan is unique to the person, depending on their assets and wishes. In addition to helping people create their estate plans, we can also assist families in sorting out estate documents after a loved one passes on.

What Is Estate Planning?

Your estate consists of everything you own – your physical possessions, such as your car, jewelry, furniture, and home, as well as your financial possessions, including life insurance policies, money in checking and savings accounts, investment accounts, and retirement funds. Estate planning is the process of securing these assets and providing instructions on what you want to happen to your assets when you die.

In addition to making a plan for your assets, estate planning also involves making decisions about who will become the guardian of your non-adult children if you die and decisions about your healthcare and finances in the case you become incapacitated. Plans for your pets and final arrangements can also be included in an estate plan, among other things. Overall, estate planning is a broad area of law that allows people to have a say about what happens to the things they care about after they are gone.

Creating a Trust

There are different types of trusts, which an experienced estate planning attorney can help you choose between, depending on your situation. Overall, trusts are established to allow your assets to be dispersed according to your wishes once you are gone. They require you to designate a trustee (which can be yourself while you are alive) and a beneficiary or beneficiaries.

In addition to knowing that your wishes will be carried out when you die, you can also feel more at ease knowing your loved ones will not be left to pick up the pieces and make decisions about who gets what, which can lead to stress and arguments amongst family members.Creating a trust also helps your loved ones avoid the lengthy and often stressful probate process.

Creating a Will

Wills are different from trusts but serve a similar function – to make your wishes known regarding how you’d like your affairs handled after death. Wills are important to include in your estate plan in addition to trusts because trusts rarely cover all your assets up to the time of your death. A will allows you to designate what happens to any assets not contained within the trust, as well as identify guardians for your children in the event you die before they are adults.

Health Care Directives

Creating an “advance health care directive” allows you to share your wishes regarding your health care preferences with your physician, family, and friends. This can include what type of treatments you do or do not want at the end of your life, your preference on whether to take life-saving or prolonging measures in certain circumstances and your desire to donate your organs or not. Making these decisions on your behalf before a critical event occurs can ease the stress of family members guessing what your wishes would be.

You also have the option to appoint a specific person to make your medical decisions in the event you cannot – this is called a “medical power of attorney.” However you decide to plan for your medical care in the event of incapacitation, your decision does need to be made in writing using the proper forms. This can be done on your own, but an estate planning lawyer can also assist you and make sure the process is completed accurately.

Powers of Attorney Over Assets

Similar to a medical power of attorney, a durable power of attorney is someone who is assigned to take care of your finances and assets if you become incapacitated. This designation allows a person to handle specific matters you choose, which could include:

• Filing taxes
• Retirement and investment fund transactions
• Business operating transactions
• Bill paying through access to your checking or savings accounts
• Real estate matters

There is a specific process that must be followed to have a power of attorney be legally recognized, so the support of an estate planning attorney is recommended.

Final Arrangements Document

Some people put their desires regarding their burial and funeral into their will. This is an option, but not necessarily the best one, as wills are required to go through probate, which can take months. The funeral and burial, on the other hand, often happen much quicker than that. Creating a “final arrangements” document can cover wishes, including cremation vs. burial, casket choice, burial location, and any special requests for your funeral. This is not a legally binding document, but it can help guide families in planning your celebration of life at a time when they are also navigating their grief.

Probate

Probate law is complex and often a stressful, lengthy process for loved ones following a person’s death. Creating a comprehensive and legally sound estate plan can minimize the likelihood of a taxing probate process for your loved ones and could eliminate the need for probate altogether, depending on how your plan is set up.

If you have recently experienced the death of a loved one and are facing the probate process, our experienced attorneys can help. There is a specific process required to go through probate, which can take months, possibly even years. The help of an attorney with experience in probate law can help make the process go as smoothly and quickly as possible.

The Time to Plan Is Now

Establishing an estate plan and getting your documents in order is important to do now rather than later. We all hope to live long and healthy lives, but unexpected things happen, so preparation is important for the sake of your family. Estate planning is also an ongoing process. You may need to make changes to your estate plan as your financial, familial, or health circumstances change. The law office of Paul V.L. Campo is ready to serve you in all your estate planning needs. Contact us today to set up a consultation.