An Estate Plan is much more than documents.
There most definitely are documents involved in creating your estate plan, but the plan itself involves making choices and decisions about what to do with your assets when you die. You make the decisions -- we prepare the documents. Without a will, your property will be granted to your heirs according to the rules of intestacy. This may or may not be what you want. Likewise, even if you tell your spouse or next of kin, that you don't want to be on life support should you become incapacitated, without a living will and advance healthcare directive, people may be left wondering what your wishes truly are.
At minimum an estate plan should include the following documents:
- Last Will and Testament;
- Living Will;
- Advance Healthcare Directive;
- Durable Power of Attorney;
- HIPAA Waiver.
It's a common misconception that having a will means that your estate will not go through probate. But there is a way to avoid probation. That is by creating a Living Trust, also called an Inter Vivos Trust. A living trust package includes all of the documents listed above and the living trust itself. Instead of a Last Will and Testament, a Pour Over Will is included.