The documents that make up your estate plan should be designed to support your needs and the needs of your family in the future. It should identify the people you trust to be in charge of your property, if you can’t; name the people you trust to direct your health care, if you can’t; and name the people you want to inherit your property. The documents are the tools a lawyer should use to give effect to your plan for the future. With that purpose in mind, at the very least your plan should include the following documents:
- A properly drafted Will (recommended only for people with simplest estates and very little property) or Trust (recommended for most people who own a home and have some combination of savings, investments, or retirement accounts)
- A Power of Attorney, appointing an agent to manage your property if one day you can’t
- A Medical Power of Attorney, appointing an agent to manage your health care, if at any point in life you aren’t able
- A Directive to Physicians (sometimes called a “Living Will”), expressing your wishes for treatment at the end of your life
- A HIPAA Authorization (Health Information Portability and Accountability Act) designed to protect your privacy by choosing who your doctors are permitted to communicate with about your condition and treatment
- A Declaration of Guardian, in which you choose who you trust to serve if you ever needed a guardian of your estate or a guardian of your person
As you consider what documents you will need to create the future you want, we urge you to secure the advice and counsel of a dedicated and experienced estate planning attorney; not someone for whom estate planning is a minimal adjunct to the primary focus of their practice. You should expect that your attorney is providing advice and counsel about how to accomplish what you want and options for how best to accomplish what you express as your needs, goals, and desires. If you have to name the documents you want the attorney to prepare (without discussing options) or the attorney only asks for basic contact information about your family and those who you want to serve in positions of authority in the future, it is possible that the attorney is just taking your order, not giving you the benefit of any legal expertise or experience.
If you want to meet with an attorney that wants to hear your vision for the future and expects to provide options to give effect to that vision, we invite you to call (817) 500-0155 or click on any Get Started button on this web site.