
As you age, you must start making an estate plan that protects your loved ones and prepares them for the future when you are no longer able to provide for them. Estate planning involves drawing up and filling out plenty of paperwork, which can be time-consuming and tedious to perform by yourself. But hiring a skilled New Jersey estate planning lawyer can make a significant difference. With the assistance and guidance of your lawyer, you can easily manage your assets and investments.
Importance of Having an Estate Plan in Place
An estate plan is necessary since you cannot predict what happens a few years from now. Regardless of how young you are and your financial standing, you must draft a plan to make sure you can continue to provide for your loved ones even if you become incapacitated, suffer from a terminal illness, or die. In addition, no matter the size of your estate, an estate plan attorney can provide you with expert guidance.
Can You Make an Estate Plan Yourself?
Although templates are available online to help you prepare estate planning documents, an experienced lawyer will handle everything to make sure you cover all the basics. A lot of DIY estate planning documents aren’t legally valid, which makes it possible for outside parties to contest your plan in court.
Effective estate planning requires plenty of research and in-depth knowledge of applicable laws. Your attorney has the necessary experience and tools to carry out your plan.
A dependable lawyer can draft many important documents that can boost and secure your estate plan. These include wills, trusts, guardianship designations, durable powers of attorney, and advanced healthcare directives. Such documents determine the people who will inherit your estate when you die. You can name your beneficiaries, executor, and trustees. In addition, you can decide who will take care of your minor children when you won’t be able to do it yourself.
Furthermore, executing your estate plan involves plenty of research and forethought. You can overlook minor details, making errors that you must resolve at some point. Your lawyer will make sure everything is in order, saving you energy and time.
One mistake you could make when you draft your own estate plan is naming just one beneficiary. This is a mistake because when something happens to this person, your estate plan could be jeopardized. Ideally, you should name several beneficiaries to make it easier to supervise and distribute your assets when you die.