Why You Need An Estate Planning Attorney

If you think estate planning is something you can do yourself, you may want to think again. The inheritance tax relief legislation of December 2010 increased the property value that an individual could leave estate tax exempt to $ 5 million adjusted for inflation each year. Another crucial change involved lowering the highest federal tax rate to 40 percent.

As a result, an increasing number of people want to avoid paying for the services of an attorney for this type of law. What they don’t realize is that estate planning is a complex business. All it takes is a single missing signature or a wrong word to alter the entire contents of a will or trust. Read on to discover three compelling reasons why you need to hire an estate planning attorney.

Specific state laws

Each state has its own laws when it comes to determining who can and cannot be in a trust, will, medical power of attorney, or financial power of attorney. There are also differences between the formalities that must be observed when signing an estate planning document. What is required in Arizona may not be necessary in Florida and vice versa.

For example, some states require that a personal representative be related by marriage or blood, or else they must be a resident of the state. Failure to meet the above criteria means that the person will not be allowed to act as a personal representative.

Caveat emptor

This is an old Latin saying that means “buyer beware.” The evolution of the Internet has resulted in a large number of legal documents readily available online. This can make legal representation seem unnecessary. The problem is, you can fill out your forms online quite happily, only to find that some or all of your trust, will, financial power of attorney, or medical power of attorney is invalid or not working as expected. If this happens, your family may have to pay thousands of dollars to correct the mistake, and in any case, you will end up hiring an estate planning attorney!

Complexity

As we mentioned before, estate planning is a complex business, and if you own a business, are in your second marriage, have no children or even minors, want to leave money to a charity or have real estate in another state. , you will need the advice of an estate planning attorney. In fact, there are dozens of other situations not described above in which things can quickly get complicated.

Regardless of the amount of research you’ve done, you likely don’t have legal experience, and this could prove costly. If you are unwilling to pay an estate planning attorney in an attempt to save money, your family is likely to spend 3-5 times more money on the back end. To make things easier for your loved ones and relieve any stress you may be feeling, contact a trusted real estate attorney today.