Estate Planning Attorney North Hills, CA

4 Reasons to Develop an Estate Plan Now in North Hills, California

---

While estate planning may seem like a morbid subject, developing a comprehensive estate plan now can be pivotal to protecting you and your family in the future. After all, the only certainty of life (aside from death) is that things will change, and having an estate plan that can appropriately deal with these changes can:

• Provide you and your family with peace of mind.
• Reduce future stresses, particularly in the event of incapacitation or death.

Here’s Why You Should Devise an Estate Plan in North Hills, CA

If you don’t already have an estate plan in place, here are some of the top reasons to consider devising an estate plan as soon as possible:

1. Planning for Your Minor and/or Special Needs Children

Your estate plan can specify who you want to care for your minor children should you pass away or become incapacitated. If, however, upon your death or incapacitation, you don’t have an estate plan in place, it will be up to the court to decide who will care for your minor children, and the court may not select the person whom you would have wanted caring for your kids.

Similarly, if your child has special needs, developing an estate plan can allow you to set aside money in a special needs trust. This can be crucial to ensuring that your child still has access to essential government benefits (e.g., disability benefits, etc.), as well as the additional financial support you have provided via the trust.

2. Planning for Incompetency

You never know when an accident or illness may render you unable to care for yourself and/or manage your own affairs. With an estate plan in place, however, you can choose someone (via a power of attorney) who can make important decisions on your behalf regarding your finances, medical care and/or end-of-life decisions.

3. Avoiding Probate

Probate can be as stressful and complicated as it may be costly – especially if the decedent did not leave a will or any estate plans behind. This can end up meaning that a large portion of an estate that would have gone to a decedent’s heirs ends up going to creditors, estate taxes, legal fees, etc.

So, if you are serious about minimizing your loved one’s emotional and financial stresses after your passing, developing an estate plan now will be important to helping your loved ones avoid probate (or get through probate more easily) in the future.

4. Keeping Cherished Assets in the Family

---

If you have cherished family heirlooms or assets that are important to you, devising an estate plan can help ensure that these assets stay in your family and go to the specific beneficiaries whom you want to have them.

If, however, you pass away without leaving an estate plan designating beneficiaries for various assets, these assets can end up going to more distant family members (or even people with whom you were not on good terms). For example, while you may have wanted your child to get certain assets, these assets may end up going to your child’s spouse in the event of a divorce if the appropriate estate planning tools have not been set up ahead of time.