Thursday, January 14th, 2016
The major benefit of a will, a very important one, is assuring that the administration of your estate will be conducted according to your unique personal wishes and not according to the one-size-fits-all direction by the government. However, your estate will still have to go through probate unless you’ve either made death beneficiary designations on your assets or created a trust which is administered outside the probate system.
Often, the best way to have your estate avoid the cost of probate is to have transfer-on-death designations for your various assets. Your home or other real estate can be transferred upon death through the use of a Transfer on Death Deed.
A T.O.D.D. allows the owner of real property to designate a beneficiary for the property and upon the death of the owner, the property passes to the designated beneficiary (usually children) without the need for a costly probate. At Dahlberg Law Office, drafting and recording these T.O.D.D.s for clients, along with other estate planning work, is a major part of our law firm’s practice.
Your estate planning should also include a Power of Attorney and Health Care Directive (“living will”).
POWER OF ATTORNEY – Through a Power of Attorney you appoint someone you trust to take care of your financial affairs while you are living but unable to do so on your own.
HEALTH CARE DIRECTIVE – Through a Health Care Directive you appoint someone you trust to make your own medical decisions for you while you are alive but unable to make those decisions on your own.
Republished with permission from the Duluth Budgeteer, October 18, 2015.
Contact us today to schedule a meeting to discuss your personal or business legal needs. Please complete the form at right and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.
Book An Appointment
130 W Superior St.
(218) 722-5809