Have you ever thought about the welfare of your family after you’re gone?
Many people have neglected to set up an estate for their families, causing them to tear apart as they fight over things and pay bills. Estates are designed to keep your family strong and get your belongings to where they need to be.
While many people think they’re too young or too old to create an estate, the truth is that there’s always time to make one.
Read on to learn more about estates and some tips to help you come up with an estate planning checklist.
Benefits of Planning an Estate
Planning an estate is essential for anyone that has a lot of property. Without an estate, your family will be left to decide what happens to your property. This can become a problem if you have people that you want to receive certain items.
Here are some of the main benefits of planning your state:
Decide Where Your Belongings Go
When you plan your estate, you’ll be able to choose exactly what happens with your belongings. Whether you want your items to go to your children or spouse, you can clearly outline what will happen to them.
You can also go as far as making donations with your estate. This is commonly done by those that have a plethora of wealth. Unless you state that you’d like to donate, all of your money will go to the hands of your family.
Prevent Family from Fighting
One of the worst things that can happen when you don’t plan your estate is your family fighting. This often occurs because people feel that they’re entitled to one of your belongings when you don’t specify who they’ll go to.
Planning an estate will prevent your family from tearing apart. You can look into places like rampinolaw.com to learn more about how planning your estate will keep your family strong. They’ll also help you with your will planning.
Choose a Guardian for Your Children
Without an estate, you won’t be able to decide who will watch over your child. If you have a spouse, your children will go to them. However, the state will decide who will get custody of your child if you don’t have a spouse.
When you plan your estate, you can choose where your child will go. This means you can ensure that your child is with someone you know will take care of them.
How to Set Up an Estate
Setting up an estate is a fairly simple process that can be done by creating a will. A will outlines all of your wishes so that they’re carried out when you pass away. You can make a will by yourself, but it’s best to work with a lawyer to ensure you do it right.
Creating the Will
When you create a will, there are a few options you can choose from. Aside from working with a lawyer, you can get the will documents yourself. Statutory wills are documents that you can fill in, or you can write the will yourself.
If you write your own will, you’ll need to ensure that you have a witness when you sign it. This is to prevent fraud and ensure that the will is properly written. A lawyer will look over the entire thing to see if there’s anything that should be changed.
Naming an Executor
Executors are very important in the estate process because they’ll be responsible for controlling your assets after you’re gone. The executor will ensure that the correct people receive their share.
You’ll need to choose an executor that you trust because of the power that they have. In most cases, spouses will become executor. If you don’t assign one, a court-appointed one will be assigned. This will end up costing your family extra expenses.
Distribution of Assets
The only way you’ll be able to choose an executor is if you decide that you’re going to distribute assets. During this part of the process, you’ll need to take note of everything that you own.
When you lay everything out, start thinking about where you’d like things to go. Your priorities should be those that are closest to you, such as children and a spouse. If you have a property that you still owe debt on, such as a mortgage, you’ll need to keep in mind that the person you’re giving it to will be responsible.
Making Funeral Arrangements
One of the best estate planning tips we can give you is to make funeral arrangements ahead of time. This will save your family thousands of dollars and prevent them from a lot of stress.
You can start looking for things like caskets, and you can prepay your funeral so that nothing else needs to be done. You should also think about where you’d like to be buried so that your family doesn’t have to decide.
Start Putting Together an Estate Planning Checklist
Using this guide, you’ll be able to come up with an estate planning checklist that allows you to quickly get through the process. Some of the basic things you should have on it are your assets, who they’re going to, and who you want to be the guardian of your children if any.
Setting up an estate is meant to prevent your family from getting stressed after you’re gone. It’s also a way to ensure that your property goes to the right hands. Start gathering your estate planning documents today because it’s never too early or late to make one.
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