Have you completed the basic Pennsylvania estate planning checklist? Do you need to get a loved one’s will through probate in Lower Paxton Township? - Contact North Star Legal Services LLC for guidance and assistance.
What we leave behind for others when we pass away can either be a blessing or a burden. While some of that is outside our control and will be decided by their feelings and memories, some of it is within our power. As a result, we have a duty to both ourselves and them to go through the essential estate planning steps with a skilled lawyer.
Leaving behind a certain amount of order in your documents and assets also helps avoid a painful probate process for your loved ones. The quality, efficiency, and cost of the Pennsylvania probate court procedures required to ultimately pass on your worldly belongings will depend in no small part on the estate planning measures you take while alive.
Indeed, if you have been left with a will and estate to manage after a loved one's death, then you will have to take it through probate in Pennsylvania. Whether it was in good order and well organized or not, you still have to see the process through to close this chapter in their life and yours.
Fortunately, an estate planning attorney, like Lower Paxton Township’s Tom McGlaughlin at North Star Legal Services LLC, can help with both!
Television and the media sometimes leave us with the impression that estate planning is only for the rich and famous, but these tools were designed for everyone to tackle problems everyone might face and every family will have to deal with someday.
When you die, in order for your belongings to be passed on to the next generation and whomever you have chosen (if you have made a choice) or whomever state law decides to receive it (if you have not chosen), they have to go through probate.
This is true for the richest and poorest of families, though the very richest can sometimes avoid it with estate planning tools like trusts, and the very most destitute can sometimes get the costs waived; the vast majority of Pennsylvanians will go through probate at least once.
Unlike death and probate, incapacitation is a problem not everyone will have to deal with. Incapacitation occurs when you are unable to make decisions, usually temporarily, due to a medical condition or procedure, or permanently due to brain damage, accident or degenerative illness. An increasingly large number of Pennsylvanians will endure or be faced with such situations year after year, so you should plan accordingly.
If you have not set up your estate plan when this happens, then your family will have to fight through the court system and possibly each other to accomplish simple essential goals like spending your money on your care or informing doctors of your wishes with regard to life-sustaining care. If you have set up your plan properly, then you maintain control, through your expressed wishes and instructions, over your financial and medical decisions.
Have you planned for both of these possibilities? If you are not sure, going through the estate planning and probate checklist put together by lawyer Tom McGlaughlin for families in Lower Paxton Township can be a great place to start!
This simple list of vital estate planning documents, which a lawyer can help you create or update, will help ensure you are not a burden on your family if you pass away or become incapacitated.
Also called a last will and testament, this document is only relevant if you pass away, but it is vital to have if you do. In your will, you can designate who will receive your assets, property, and belongings. If you do not, the state decides.
A will can also include essential information, such as who you would like to be the executor of your estate or your preferred guardian for any minor children if you pass away.
Unlike a will, powers of attorney are useful in all kinds of circumstances, including your incapacitation. These documents empower someone of your choice (and possibly several backups) with the ability to make financial and other legal decisions on your behalf.
Powers of attorney can be general, which covers any and all possible uses, such as if you are concerned about incapacitation, or specific, which covers only the exact circumstances and powers indicated. These last can even be for very simple matters like letting a friend stay in your home while traveling.
While a power of attorney allows you to give someone you trust control over your finances, an advanced medical directive gives them the power to make decisions about your health, treatment, and medical questions. Sometimes, these documents are referred to as a living will.
Your advanced medical directive or living will also provide specific instructions for your care, such as whether or not you want to be resuscitated or simply receive palliative care in the case of serious injury or incapacitation. It allows you to spare your family the burden or conflict inherent in making such decisions by making them yourself ahead of time.
While some of these documents can be found online, and you can try to use such methods to wrap up your estate planning on the cheap, you might end up costing your family more money and being even more of a burden on them.
If your estate planning documents prove to be improperly completed or simply incomplete, that can sometimes be just as bad or even worse than having none at all. Especially when it comes to your testament, as the last thing you want is your beloved family members burning through what you were able to leave them by fighting over.
Working with a local attorney who understands your financial constraints and situations is the best way to ensure an affordable alternative that still provides financial security for your family and peace of mind for you. Secure in the knowledge that should the worst befall, your loved ones will be cared for, and your legacy will not be a burden upon them but a blessing.
North Star Legal Services LLC | Local estate planning and probate lawyer proudly serving Lower Paxton Township, Dauphin County, and all of Pennsylvania.
If you have left even one of the above items unchecked, or if it has been five years or more since you wrote one and major life events have occurred since then, you should strongly consider reaching out to an experienced estate planning attorney near you, or your family may end up having to call on a probate lawyer in court.
In Lower Paxton Township, Dauphin County residents can turn to local estate planning and down-to-earth probate lawyer Tom McGlaughlin. Call (717) 990-7178 now to set up an appointment while you still can because you never know what tomorrow will bring; all you can do is be prepared for the worst and make sure your family will be well cared for.
The information you obtain at this site is not, nor is it intended to be, legal advice. You should consult an attorney for advice regarding your individual situation. Contacting us does not create an attorney-client relationship.
