ESTATE PLANNING

Who needs an estate plan?

Every person, young or old, who has a family or owns property, needs an estate plan. A good estate plan will allow a person to reach desired economic, legal, and personal objectives.

Although death is an unpleasant topic it is a conversation that should not be avoided. Preparing a comprehensive estate plan will allow you to rest easier and will benefit your family in the long run.

What is Estate Planning?

Estate planning is providing for the desired personal, economic, and legal consequences in the accumulation, conservation, and distribution of your property. It is the process of arranging for the well-being of your family and the use of your property to accomplish your objectives while you are living and after your death. It is choosing from among the many alternatives that are available to secure your financial future, especially during retirement, and perhaps preserve an estate for your heirs after payment of debts, taxes, and other settlement costs.

Estate planning is complex and requires knowledge in federal and Ohio estate taxation, wills, insurance, methods of owning property, forms of business organization, trusts, and more. It involves consideration of the amount and type of your property, forms of property ownership, and plans for its transfer. Retirement plans, arrangements for estate liquidity, concern for your children’s futures, planning to meet family objectives, and many other factors must be considered.

Develop a Plan for Your Situation

Your plan needs to be tailored to your resources and to your family needs. Unfortunately, many families cannot come to grips with these challenges because they either are not aware of the present day cost of not planning, afraid of what they think is a complex subject, or wary of outsiders who seek to help develop a plan.

However, you can save a lot of money and potential chaos and hard feelings among those closest to you by preplanning how you want your assets managed when you are incapacitated, and how your property will be divided at your death.

Powers of Attorney

In Ohio, you can sign a durable power of attorney to appoint someone to handle your assets if you become incapacitated. At a minimum, a power of attorney should include the power to:

• Manage and transfer all assets
• Deal with the IRS
• Make gifts on your behalf
• Create and amend any trusts you set up

You don't need to transfer any assets at the time you sign a power of attorney, but it's a good idea to keep the person you've chosen informed about your ongoing financial matters.

You can also appoint a Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care to make health care decisions for you when you're unable to do so yourself. This person can provide informed consent for treatment, or even refuse treatment for you.

Dying Without a Will

If you die without a will (known as dying "intestate") in Ohio, your assets will be divided amongst your immediate family pursuant to statute.

Alternatives to a Will

Wills eventually become public after your death, with the details of what you owned and how much it was worth available to anyone curious enough to read the court file. As a result, many people look for more private ways to transfer their assets.

In Ohio, alternatives to making a will include:

• Life insurance policies or trusts

• Gifting cash or other assets before your death

• "Transfer On Death" ("TOD") or "Payable On Death" ("POD") bank accounts

• Holding assets by joint tenancy with right of survivorship ("JTROS"), with the assets transferring automatically to the other joint tenant at the time of death

• Holding assets through a tenancy in common, with each tenant having a divided interest in the property which can be independently sold

• Retirement plans and Individual Retirement Accounts ("IRAs")

• "Revocable living trusts" (sometimes called "grantor trusts"), giving all your assets to a trustee for management before your death
  
  

Making a Will

In Ohio, you can make a valid will if you are at least 18 years old and of sound mind. The will must be in writing and signed at the end by you or by another at your direction and in your presence. Two or more competent witnesses must witness your signature.

An attorney can explain the consequences of some of the most basic choices you must make, such as whether property you want to leave to your minor children should be put into a trust at your death. For that reason, it makes sense to consult with an Ohio estate planning lawyer and have him or her draft your will, so that you don't make costly mistakes or accidentally not accomplish what you intended.

Providing For Young Children

There are many kinds of trusts, but the most common is one you would set up for your minor children or incapacitated adult relatives for their care after you are gone and until they are old enough or well enough to take care of themselves. A parent can name a trustee to be in control of the finances and decide whether to sell or keep property, and manage assets such as real estate. The trustee, usually a family member or trusted friend, can be paid an hourly rate or a set monthly amount for their services out of the trust assets.

You will probably also want to name a guardian for your children, someone who would have physical custody of and take care of your children on a daily basis should you or your spouse be unable to do so.

Probate

"Probate" is the public process of:

• Filing and validating a will in court
• Paying all the debts and taxes of the deceased person
• Dividing up the assets according to the will or Ohio law

If you have no debts and no "titled property" such as real estate or vehicles to pass along to heirs, there may be no need for probate.

Located in New Albany, Ohio, Demers & Associates, LLC offers representation in employment and labor law, bankruptcy and creditors' rights, civil litigation defense, and divorce & child custody matters, estate planning, wills & trusts to clients in Franklin, Delaware, and Licking Counties including New Albany, Columbus, Worthington, Westerville, Lewis Center, Powell, Delaware, Gahanna, Reynoldsburg Pickerington, Upper Arlington, Pataskala, Easton, and Polaris.