If you believe that estate planning is something you can do yourself, you may need to think again. The property tax relief law in December 2010 raised the value of the property that an individual can exempt from property taxes to $5 million, adjusted for inflation each year. Another notable change involves reducing the highest federal estate tax rate to 40 percent.
As a result, more and more people want to avoid paying for the services of a lawyer for this type of law. What they don’t realize is that estate planning is a complex business. All it takes is one missing signature or the wrong word to change the entire content of a will or trust. Keep reading to discover three compelling reasons why it’s worth hiring an attorney for estate planning.
Specific State Law
Each state has its own laws determining who can and cannot be in a trust, will, medical power of attorney, or financial power of attorney. There are also differences between the formalities that need to be considered when signing plantation planning documents. What is needed in Arizona may not be needed in Florida and vice versa.
For example, some states require private representatives to be related by marriage or blood, or else they must be residents of the state. Failure to meet the above criteria means that the individual will not be allowed to serve as a personal representative.
Emptor Warning
This is an old Latin proverb meaning “buyer beware.” The evolution of the Internet has led to a large number of legal documents being easily available online. This may make legal representation seem unnecessary. The problem is that you can fill out your online form quite happily, only to find out that some or all of your trust, will, financial power of attorney, or medical power of attorney is invalid or not working as you expected. If this happens, your family may need to pay thousands of dollars to fix the error and will eventually hire an estate planning attorney in any case!
Complexity
As we mentioned above, real estate planning is a complex business, and if you own a business, are in your second marriage, have no children or minors, want to leave money to charity, or own real estate in the country Another part, you will need the advice of an estate planning attorney. Granted, there are dozens of other situations not outlined above where things can get complicated quickly.
Regardless of how much research you have done, you most likely have no legal expertise, and this can prove expensive. If you don’t want to pay for an estate planning attorney in an effort to save money, chances are your family will spend 3-5 times more money on the back-end. To make things easier for your loved ones and to reduce any stress you may be feeling, contact a trusted real estate attorney today.
