Estate Planning Overview
What will happen to your property and affairs after you die? If you do not know the answer to this question, it is time to sit down with an experienced Ohio estate planning attorney. While few individuals like contemplating their own eventual death, making an estate plan while you are alive and well is essential to ensuring that your assets are successfully transferred to the individuals you want and that your obligations and affairs are wrapped up in accordance with your wishes. Dawes Legal, LLC can help give you and your family security and peace of mind regardless of what the future has in store.
Probate and Probate Proceedings
Probate refers to the court-supervised process whereby a decedent’s affairs are wound up, his or her valid debts paid, and his or her assets distributed to his or her heirs and/or beneficiaries.
Tax Planning
Estate planning is about maximizing and protecting the value of your assets that are passed along to your heirs and beneficiaries while minimizing the negative tax consequences they might experience from receiving your bequests.
Wills and Trusts
Two of the most foundational documents in any estate plan are the will and the trust. Although each has an ultimate purpose of distributing your property and assets to the people you choose upon your death, these two documents are not interchangeable.
Experienced Assistance with Estate Planning and More
- Drafting a will that distributes your assets upon your death to the heirs and/or beneficiaries you designate;
- Crafting a trust that will allow you to use and enjoy your assets during your lifetime and will pass your assets to your heirs and beneficiaries without having to go through the probate process;
- Creating powers of attorney that will designate a person who can make personal decisions for you about your finances and healthcare decisions if you are unconscious or otherwise unable to make these decisions for yourself;
- Modifying or revoking preexisting estate planning documents that no longer reflect your estate planning wishes and goals;
- Asset protection planning designed to help preserve your assets so that they can be passed along to your heirs and beneficiaries with the greatest value;
- Navigating the probate process, which is the process whereby a will is admitted to and supervised by the court; and
- Other questions, concerns, and issues that develop during the planning and administration of your estate.
Regardless of the size of your estate, the value of your assets, or the number of heirs and beneficiaries you have, Dawes Legal, LLC is able to assist you in crafting a unique and personalized estate plan that will ensure your final wishes are carried out in your absence.
Why Having an Estate Plan is Essential
If you fail to create an estate plan, important decisions about your estate and assets will be made in accordance with Ohio laws. These decisions may or may not be the decisions you would have wanted to make. For example, a court will decide:
- Who to appoint as an executor or administrator over your estate;
- Who receives a portion of the assets of your estate and in what proportions;
- Who receives personal mementos and artifacts when two or more heirs and beneficiaries are locked in a dispute about possession of these items.
Without an estate plan in place, your death can result in legal and financial challenges for your loved ones that can aggravate the grief and difficulties they are experiencing as a result of your death. An estate plan allows your family and loved ones to have certainty about what will happen with your affairs and possessions, freeing them to grieve without worrying about complex legal decisions that need to be made to wind up your affairs or protecting your assets from taxes and creditors.
Contact Dawes Legal, LLC Today
Whatever your estate planning needs, at Dawes Legal, LLC, we will provide you with experienced and compassionate assistance. Contact Dawes Legal, LLC today at (614) 733- 9999 to schedule an initial consultation to learn the difference that a well-drafted and thorough estate plan can make.