Understanding When To Hire An Estate Planning Attorney
An estate planning attorney is an essential part of developing end-of-life strategies. Lawyers specializing in this area help people draw up last wills and testaments, durable powers of attorney, medical powers of attorney, and revocable or irrevocable trusts.
Many families’ biggest question is whether their loved one should hire an estate planning attorney. An estate planning attorney is an asset in ensuring your loved one’s affairs are in order. Not only are many lawyers qualified for the task, but many friends and family members in your address book could recommend one of them if the question arises of who to hire.
Experienced estate planning lawyers can help with the following:
Writing wills and trusts. Few realize that you cannot sign the will as a witness if you are the beneficiary or named anywhere in the will. Your estate planning attorney will also change your wills and trusts as life changes occur.
Creating a power of attorney. There are several different types of powers and various reasons why there are differences. It’s a confusing reality, especially in a crisis. Your estate planning attorney will tell you which power of attorney is required and which is not. You must have all your documents in order and everything in place in an emergency.
Retirement planning. The sooner people plan for retirement, the better. People relied on various government benefits to help them through their golden years. Instead, they must plan. Only some realize that Estate Planning Lawyers Melbourne are integral to retirement planning. Your attorney will work with your financial planner and others to ensure your plan is correct.
Be encouraged if your loved one wants to hire an estate planning attorney. It is not an uncommon reaction because people often believe that the end of their days is near, that they will lose control of their property and be unable to make their own financial decisions. Ensure that this is not the case and that they will continue to have full control over all decisions regarding your estate until a medical need arises that requires an alternate proxy decision. Make sure they are also involved in the decision-making process because, after all, your property is at stake.
Before you decide who to hire as an estate planning attorney, do a lot of interviews with the attorneys to ensure they have a good relationship and that the authority you want to see is in place. Remember that you will be working with this lawyer for a long time and with his assistants, so you need to establish a good working relationship with them.
Summary
If you feel like you can’t get along with them during the interview, reach out to other attorneys until you feel confident that you’ve made the right long-term decision.
