Preparing a Will
Tuft, Lach, Jerabek & O’Connell, PLLC can assist you in your estate planning needs. No matter the size of your estate, nearly everyone can benefit from having a will prepared. It allows you to divide up your estate in accordance with your specific wishes, and offers some guidance to your loved ones as to what your wishes and intentions are. Within a will you can do the following:
- appoint a personal representative (formerly called an “executor”) to carry out the instructions in your will
- create a trust and appoint guardians for the care of any minor children
- make specific bequests, or special gifts, to loved ones
- donate a portion of your estate to charity
Powers of Attorney
A Power of Attorney is a legal document that grants the person of your choice the power to handle your banking, real or personal property, business, and many other transactions in the event you are physically unavailable to perform them yourself or in the event you become mentally incapacitated.
Health Care Directives (Living Wills)
A Health Care Directive is a legal document used to specify the health care you would like to receive under certain circumstances. In addition, it allows you to state your wishes as to how your remains will be handled following your death. In the Health Care Directive you can state whether you wish to be cremated or buried; whether you wish to donate your organs; and whether you wish for an autopsy to be performed for the purpose of diagnosis, medical education, or research.
Trusts
A trust is a tool used primarily to manage and distribute assets during lifetime and/or upon death. Trusts can either be created in a Will (a “testamentary trust”) or during one’s lifetime (an “intervivos” or “living trust”). The person who creates the trust is called the Grantor, Trustor, Donor or Settlor. The person who manages the trust property (the assets put into the trust), is called the Trustee. The trust document itself provides the instructions as to how the Trustee is to manage the trust property. Within the confines of the law, trusts can be as creative or as simple as the Grantor wishes, and can be useful tools for a variety of situations, including planning for estate taxes, planning for continued use or sale of a family cabin or other real estate, passing wealth to or managing wealth for younger or incapacitated beneficiaries, and even managing funds left to care for a pet. Trusts can also be revocable (can be changed during the Grantor’s lifetime) or irrevocable. The attorneys at Tuft, Lach, Jerabek & O’Connell, PLLC will discuss with you whether a trust is the right tool for you.
Contact Tuft, Lach, Jerabek, & O’Connell, PLLC at (651) 771-0050 or info@tuftlaw.com to schedule a consultation with Letty Van Ert, our experienced estate planning and probate attorney.
