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Planning your estate: Things to keep in mind

Many individuals are familiar with the possibilities provided by wills and trusts when it comes to estate planning. Although you might not be aware of them, there are a number of more widely used estate planning instruments that you might wish to speak with a tacoma estate planning lawyer about including in your estate plan. Here is a quick rundown of these possibilities.

Authority of Attorney

An individual should include one of the several powers of attorney in their estate plan. When a person becomes ill or disabled, they cannot make their own decisions and need someone to make them for them. Powers of attorney can be used for this purpose rather than after a person’s death. Tragically, this can occur at any age as a result of illnesses as well as injuries sustained in severe accidents.

An all-encompassing power of attorney gives someone else the authority to handle all financial and medical matters. Some people like having more specialised powers of attorney in place that limit the range of the person’s desired authority.

One individual may be given the sole power of attorney for financial matters. This person is in charge of managing all financial choices and asset oversight.

An Enduring Power of Attorney

It’s crucial to have a living will as part of your estate plan in addition to a healthcare power of attorney. The best way to express your desires regarding life-sustaining treatments or procedures you would consent to is through a living will. No matter what your healthcare power of attorney decides, your ultimate desires will be honoured if you have this paperwork in place.

Pour-Over Will

When assets included in the last will and testament are given to a trust, this is known as “pouring over”. This is accomplished by incorporating a provision known as a pour-over clause in the will that directs any asset not specified in the will to be put into a trust. A trustee is appointed to manage the trust’s assets and ensure that they are managed in accordance with the decedent’s instructions as indicated in the pour-over clause.

To safeguard any assets that might have accumulated after the will is signed, but before the decedent has the chance to include them in the will, a pour-over will is a wise tool to use. If not, these assets are included in the estate as a whole and might not be dispersed according to the decedent’s preferences.

Hank Pedro
the authorHank Pedro