The Added Benefits of an Estate Planning Attorney
You may know that you can technically create a will without the help of an estate planning attorney. But there are some added benefits of using a professional. Here are some of the top considerations.
Better Understanding of the Law
What happens if you write something in your will that is not actually legal? For example, you want to assign all of your assets to your cousin, but you're married, which means that the assets legally transfer to your spouse? Well, the effort you've put into thinking about your estate will go to waste. Once legal authorities get involved, they are going to follow the law before they will follow your will.
An estate planning attorney acts as a sounding board for your estate plans, guiding you to a legal outcome for your will. The hours you could spend researching this on your own could be better spent. Hire a professional and get it over with.
They Will Act as Guarantor
It's often a good idea to have a neutral party carry out the will. A close family member can act as guarantor, but you're putting them in the line of fire for people who are angry about the will. It's also a lot of work to carry out a last will and testament. Instead, you can give the document to an estate planning law firm to carry out for you. This places less burden on family members, and it's also a better guarantee that the will would be carried out swiftly and without issue.
They Help You Plan
It's in the title. An estate planning attorney helps you plan. They provide you with the considerations that most people in your situation use when deciding how to split assets. They will provide you with tools to best estimate what your estate will look like after taxes and debts come out. They can also help you with professional and iron clad wording. You wouldn't want a grammatical error (those darned Oxford commas) or a forgotten word to create some kind of loophole in the will that an unscrupulous family member could take advantage of.
In short, the benefit that you get from an estate planning attorney is a solid guarantee. They are guaranteeing you that you're creating the will correctly now, and that they will take care of the rest later. With assets you've built up your whole life, it's best not to take any chances.
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