Wills, Testamentary Trusts and Estate Planning

If you want to make sure the people you care about inherit your assets, you should have a will. Without a will, the state decides who gets your assets through a process called intestacy. People you care about may not inherit your assets through intestacy. I always charge an upfront flat fee for wills depending on the complexity of your case.

General Power of Attorney: Allows you to choose someone to manage your assets, pay your bills and make decisions about all aspects of your life.

Limited Power of Attorney: Allows you to choose someone to make limited decisions.

Power of Attorney for Health Care (aka Living Will): Allows you to keep control over your own medical care during times of incapacity through the prior appointment of an individual to make health care decisions. A living will allows you to direct which measures will be used to extend your life in instances where there is no reasonable hope for recovery.

Financial Power of Attorney: Allows you to choose someone to make decisions about your financial welfare.

To take control of the closing chapters of your own life. By having estate planning documents, you will not have to worry about what will happen to the guardianship of your children, what will happen to your assets, or who will distribute your assets, because you will have already chosen those things. You can even choose who will make important medical decisions for you when you are unable to make them for yourself and who will have power of attorney in the event of your mental incapacity. Consulting a Loudon County estate planning attorney can bring peace of mind and can mitigate or eliminate any conflict among family members or potential heirs.

By contrast, if you die without estate planning documents (in other words, if you die “intestate”) then the government will make these important decisions on your behalf. The Commonwealth of Virginia will choose who will get your assets, who will administrate your estate, and who will take guardianship of your children—and won’t necessarily follow your wishes. In addition, dying intestate can trigger disputes among potential heirs about who should inherit which parts of your estate.

With estate planning documents, you can be master of your estate, your family’s wellbeing, and yourself. You will have a roadmap of who will act, what they will do and when. This is why it’s important to discuss your objectives with an estate planning lawyer in Loudon County and Northern Virginia.

This document is commonly referred to as a “will.” With it, you can decide who will take your assets after you are no longer alive, who will administrate your estate by following the instructions of your will, and who will be the guardian of any of your minor children until they turn eighteen. You can even choose who will manage the money for your youngest beneficiaries until they come of age.

This is a document which allows you to appoint someone you trust (an “agent”) to make medical decisions for you if you are mentally incapacitated. With a Living Will, you can leave specific medical instructions for your agent, such as whether you want to be an organ donor, whether you want a DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) instruction, and what to do if you were to become mentally incapacitated with absolutely no hope or reasonable chance of medical recovery.

This is a document which allows you to you appoint someone you trust (an “agent”) to make personal and business decisions for you if you are mentally incapacitated. Your agent will have access to all of your financial accounts and be able to make important financial decisions in your best interest. This person will have the power to continue paying your mortgage, car note, and all other bills as they become due. If and when you regain your mental capacity, you can take charge of your own personal and business affairs once again.

At the end of this process, you and your family will have estate planning documents in hand that consist of three main documents:

• Last Will and Testament
• Living Will
• Durable Power of Attorney

Please ensure you keep all of these documents in a secured place, we often advise our clients to keep their estate planning documents in a fire proof safe in their home.