Estate Planning Lawyers in Dayton

Why Is Estate Planning Important?

Regardless of wealth, everyone has an estate. We all have assets in our lives, whether they are tangible, like money and property, or they are priceless, like our loved ones and children. Together, these things encompass an estate that needs to be protected should you become disabled or die and are no longer there to claim or care for them.

An effective estate plan can:

• Provide the power to decide who gets what assets and when
• Determine legal guardianship for minor children along with instructions on caring for them and management of inherited assets
• Minimize the tax burden
• Protect assets from unplanned creditors
• Help you organize your records to help family locate important information, including financial records, insurance policies, and titles
• Potentially prevent an estate from entering a lengthy and often costly probate process
• Offer an organized and efficient way to revise results if there has been any type of life change, including marriage, divorce, birth of a child, or death, as well as any type of adjustment that relates to your health or financial position

Possible Consequences of Not Having an Estate Plan

Not having an estate plan puts assets at risk and potentially reduces the amount left for heirs to enjoy while raising the amount of taxes taken by the government. In recent years, we have also seen the ongoing changes to estate tax laws; planning techniques that once worked may now prove to be very costly.

The lesson here is that there is nothing good that comes for those who wait to do estate planning or never do it at all. No one wants to think about dying, but none of us really know when our time is up. That can be scary, but more worrisome is not being prepared should the unexpected happen. 

Here are some scenarios that you may not realize could happen if you do not plan your estate:

• An estate that is more than the exemption amount for federal estate taxes can be taxed as much as 40 percent.
• Should you become incapacitated or die, the state will then make critical decisions for you that will impact your heirs, including how much each will receive, and it may not be what you had wanted for them. For example, many states are fair when it comes to joint accounts and houses or those items where someone is listed as a beneficiary, but there are other assets, including assets that a spouse may have held separately, that are then in question and not often handled in a way that makes everyone happy. Fighting the state or each other is a costly and stressful process for those loved ones you leave behind.
• Beyond assets, other wishes will go unfulfilled as well, including health care when you are terminally ill and unable to speak for yourself. Instead, the physician will have to make decisions rather than a loved one that you would have designated had there been a plan in place. If the physician is not comfortable going forward with a procedure and there is no health care power of attorney or living will, then someone may have to go into court and obtain an order to make the appropriate decisions.
• If a business is involved, it could impact business continuity and lead to an adverse impact on revenue, brand reputation, and ongoing operations.
• When there are blended families, a death can intensify existing conflicts and lead to court battles that waste existing assets.