Jacksonville Trust & Estate Planning

Steps in trusts and estates planning in Jacksonville

It is never easy to think about planning your affairs for a time when you will not be there.  But if the worst should happen, you can save your family financial and tax burdens, as well as the burden of making difficult decisions about you and your estate by preparing a few key documents and keeping them on file.  Taking the following steps now will ensure that you plan as responsibly as you can for your family and your loved ones. 

• Prepare a will.  Your will spells out how your financial affairs should be handled in your passing.  A good will includes a number of directives, such as who should inherit your property.  It also names a guardian for any children in case something happens to both you and the other parent.  Additionally, your will should designate a trusted individual as personal representative to your estate.  Until the will is finally executed upon your death, it is known as a revocable trust.  The status of the directives remains revocable or changeable while you are still alive to modify them.
• Consider establishing a trust. Trusts can serve a number of purposes.  One common type of trust is a living trust.  This is a will like document set up while you are alive stating how your assets will be handled if you die or become incapacitated.  If you have a living trust already set up at the time if your death, your estate can bypass probate, allowing your beneficiaries to avoid the long wait and unnecessary costs of accessing their inheritances.  If you have family members or loved ones who require special needs, you can establish a special needs trust fund to ensure that they are properly taken care of.  Consult with a Jacksonville estate planning attorney to determine if a trust is a worthy element of your estate plan.
• Assign power of attorney.  You can designate a trusted individual to make decisions regarding your health care and/or finances if you are unable to do so.  A medical power of attorney authorizes someone to make your medical decisions, while a financial power of attorney allows someone to act on your behalf in financial matters such as singing checks.
• Set up an advance directive.  An advance directive outlines your end-of-life preferences, such as whether to allow a feeding tube or respirator, or if and when to authorize a Do Not Resuscitate order. Without an advance directive, your family member may be faced with making these difficult decisions without knowing your wishes.
• Update your beneficiaries.  You should make sure that the beneficiaries listed in your trusts and estate documents are consistent with those listed in your 401(k), insurance policies, investments, and other retirement accounts.  In the event of your passing, the beneficiaries named in those documents will actually trump your will, regardless of if the will is more current.
• Organize and store your documents.   Make sure your estate documents are together in a place that at least one family member or loved one is aware of.  Include Social Security and health insurance cards, and contact information for your doctors, lawyers, and accountants.  Never store your original documents in a safe-deposit box—instead, use a fireproof safe in your home or office and ensure that any copies are at your attorney's office as well.

Your estate planning documents should all be current with changes in your life, such as births, deaths, marriages, divorces, and other events that affect how your estate should be managed.

Estates and trusts attorney in Jacksonville

For a free initial phone consultation on your matter of trust and estate planning, or to request an attorney referral for another matter, contact Todd Watson, P.L., today.