Need some legal documents to prepare your own legal work? You are probably tempted to go on the internet and download the documents you need and start filling out the forms and checking the boxes. Well, before you do that. Ask yourself if you needed heart surgery would you go to the internet and order a do it yourself surgeon kit? No, you would see a professional about the job.
Sure there are some basic legal documents you can get online for a small fee, some are even free. Sometimes the adage you get what you pay for holds true. Sometimes the documents serve the purpose and you will have no problems.
Probate can take from six months to in some cases two years to complete. There are legal fees involved and also court costs. And realize that even if you have a will your estate will have to go through the probate process. So your best plan is to prepare a living trust.
Before you order it and start checking the boxes and putting the form into your safe deposit box, you have realize there is more to a living trust than printing out forms and checking boxes. There have been several probate judges and probate lawyers who simply sigh and shake their heads when heirs to the deceased present such a pile of forms in court expecting to walk away with the estate of the box checker.
If you needed heart surgery would you go to the book store and buy on self surgery with a scalpel included on the back page? No. You would hire a medical professional to perform the surgery. So too you need to hire a legal professional to prepare your living trust.
Living trusts seem easy to create and yes if you take a look at the instructions and the legal forms all is laid out for you to do it yourself.
People who prepare their own living trust sometimes forget one of the most important steps in creating an estate plan. They forget to fund the trust. They forget to move their assets, to transfer ownership of the assets to the trust. Their presumed living trust is now a worthless piece of paper at their death.
Funding a living trust is not difficult. But it is part of the living trust preparation you want to make sure is handled the right way.
Without the correct preparation and transfer of property to the estate the living trust is only a piece of paper not a legal document. Yes, it costs money to hire an attorney to prepare your estate plan. But in the end it will actually save your heirs time and money when it is time for them to take possession of what you intend them to receive at the time of your passing. And you will have peace of mind now knowing your estate plan is in order. - 20763
Sure there are some basic legal documents you can get online for a small fee, some are even free. Sometimes the adage you get what you pay for holds true. Sometimes the documents serve the purpose and you will have no problems.
Probate can take from six months to in some cases two years to complete. There are legal fees involved and also court costs. And realize that even if you have a will your estate will have to go through the probate process. So your best plan is to prepare a living trust.
Before you order it and start checking the boxes and putting the form into your safe deposit box, you have realize there is more to a living trust than printing out forms and checking boxes. There have been several probate judges and probate lawyers who simply sigh and shake their heads when heirs to the deceased present such a pile of forms in court expecting to walk away with the estate of the box checker.
If you needed heart surgery would you go to the book store and buy on self surgery with a scalpel included on the back page? No. You would hire a medical professional to perform the surgery. So too you need to hire a legal professional to prepare your living trust.
Living trusts seem easy to create and yes if you take a look at the instructions and the legal forms all is laid out for you to do it yourself.
People who prepare their own living trust sometimes forget one of the most important steps in creating an estate plan. They forget to fund the trust. They forget to move their assets, to transfer ownership of the assets to the trust. Their presumed living trust is now a worthless piece of paper at their death.
Funding a living trust is not difficult. But it is part of the living trust preparation you want to make sure is handled the right way.
Without the correct preparation and transfer of property to the estate the living trust is only a piece of paper not a legal document. Yes, it costs money to hire an attorney to prepare your estate plan. But in the end it will actually save your heirs time and money when it is time for them to take possession of what you intend them to receive at the time of your passing. And you will have peace of mind now knowing your estate plan is in order. - 20763
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