The Steps It Takes To Getting Your Estate Plan In Order

If you don't have end of life documents, you need to meet with an estate planning attorney right away and get it taken care of. You might be confused about how the whole process works, so here is some information to put your mind at ease and prepare you for the process.

Step 1 - Meet With The Attorney

The first thing you will do is go in and meet with the attorney. They won't expect everything to already be decided and in order, so at this point they will bring up questions and things that you should be thinking about and considering. For instance, if you have minor children, who should take them after you pass away and who should be the secondary person if the primary person is unable or unwilling. Second, they will ask questions about how you want to distribute wealth, if you have a life insurance policy and so forth.

Lastly, there are power of attorney documents you will need to consider. These documents are giving someone the power to make decisions for you if you are unable to for medical or legal reasons.

Step 2 - Drafting and Decisions

After your meeting with the attorney, they will send you home with some questions and begin drafting your documents. If you didn't have the answers to the questions when you first met with them, they may contact you over the phone in a day or two to get your final decision. Then the attorney will begin putting in all of your specific terms into the documents.

You generally don't have to be present for the drafting, since it will take time on the attorney's side to put together all of your information.

Step 3 - Review and Signing

After the drafting is completed, you will be asked to come in and review and sign the documents if they look good to you. In many cases, the signing will have to be witnessed and notarized. So it will either be done at the attorney's office in the presence of witnesses, or at your house if you are unable to leave, and once again witnesses will need to be brought in.

Step 4 Revisiting and Revising

After you have finished your documents you will need to review them every couple of years to make sure they are what you want. If you have had a divorce, marriage, birth of new children and so forth, you will want to revisit the documents and revise them.

As you can see the process is simple and should be done by every adult. To find out more, speak with someone like The Law Office of Israel S Hernandez, PLLC.


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