Just the FAQs--Part 3 of 3

PART 3 OF 3

I get a lot of questions about basic estate planning concepts when people are first looking into their own planning, so I decided to answer many of them in this FAQ series. If you have additional questions or want to look at things more comprehensively, you can check out the free information at http://www.FreeTrustCourse.com, or if you are a North Carolina resident, then please call me at the office at 919-844-7993.

How important is an estate planning attorney?

A good estate planning attorney is one of the most powerful allies you can have, but a bad one can be your worst enemy. It is essential to find a good estate planning attorney if you are going to create an estate plan that meets your needs, is legally executable, and can be properly settled.

Can I create an estate plan on my own?

You can, but I don't recommend it. As much as I am for do-it-yourself approaches, this is not an area where I would suggest taking that course.  You don't want to take any chances with your estate plan. I once asked a very well-known estate planning attorney about do-it-yourself estate plans; he said, "The problem is most people don't know what they don't know. If you know what you don't know, go ahead and try a do-it yourself approach. If you don't, I recommend against it."

How do I find a good estate planning attorney?

Talk with friends and family about attorneys they used, check your state bar association and other state resources, and go to estate planning seminars.

Once you have a list of contenders, make sure that you interview each attorney. See if you can set up a free meeting and get the information you need to make a good decision.

Finding the right attorney for a Trust—Basic Planning

It is always a good to sit down with an attorney and ask questions before hiring one. In order to help you find the right attorney and other professionals in putting together your life and estate plan, you and your spouse should look for the following warning signs:

• They recommend using joint property with a right of survivorship or beneficiary designations.
• They tell you all you need are wills and you shouldn’t even discuss a trust.
• They say probate is not a big deal and their firm handles probate cases all of the time.

If you notice any of the above points, then they clearly do not have the knowledge to help you and your spouse with life and estate planning. This is not to say they are bad lawyers, but I’ve often seen lawyers who are very good with real estate matters, or family law, or traffic court cases want to help when their clients come to them with another matter like drafting life and estate planning documents. The problem is they don’t realize it is not that simple.

Finding the right attorney for a Trust—Advanced Planning

While there are a lot of lawyers not able to truly handle advanced life and estate planning issues, there are also some attorneys who understand the concepts and who are doing a good job of protecting their clients and addressing their needs. But they are still not doing the best job they could. It’s the extra care and thoroughness that can give married couples 100 percent of all possible protection versus the 90% of what the attorney feels are the most important protections. Here are two typical signs your attorney may be doing a good job but not the best job possible:

• They insist on drafting separate revocable trusts because of estate tax problems with having a joint trust.
• If your combined estates are greater than $8 million, then there is nothing else you can do to avoid estate taxes.

Here the attorneys are showing they understand estate tax implications, which is big step ahead of some other attorneys, and they may be able to do a decent job putting together a life and estate plan for you and your spouse. But it also indicates they don’t have some of the advanced knowledge to give you all of the protection and tax credits the law allows. With the right documents and language, married couples can combine most of their assets in a single revocable living trust and still obtain maximum estate tax benefits through other means.

I hope you have gotten some good information from this series on basic FAQs. Putting together your life and estate plan should not have to be a hit-or-miss proposition, and it all starts by getting good information and then working with the right attorney and other professionals. For more information on revocable living trusts and estate planning, check out the free information at http://www.FreeTrustCourse.com.