What is estate planning?

What is estate planning, anyhow? It sounds important, but can be difficult for people to really wrap their heads around what it is. In short, estate planning is making plans for how your estate (all of the assets that you own) will be transferred upon your death. The mechanisms for making these transfers include Wills and Trusts, but can also involve beneficiary designations, putting property in joint ownership and more. A quality estate plan will also cover health care crises and end-of-life care, ensuring that your assets are protected and health care decisions are being made as you wish, by the people you want to make them. That’s where other legal tools like the Financial Power of Attorney and the Advance Directive come in. All of these documents together comprise your estate plan.

Do I really need estate planning?

A common assumption is that estate planning is only needed for people who are over a certain age (usually around retirement or older) or very wealthy. The truth is that estate planning is important for anyone who is concerned about protecting their assets, no matter the amount, and who is concerned about protecting their family. Contemplating your death and the practical and financial impacts it would have on your family is not a fun or gleeful activity, certainly. But, it is an activity that brings peace of mind for having done it. Checking this off the list of “things that responsible, grown-up people just need to do” can bring great relief. Making sure that your minor children have named guardians to care for them and resources to pay for their care in case you can’t brings peace of mind.

Clients come to the estate planning process from all different places, with varying levels of expertise, understanding, and experience. At Siskiyou Law we work hard to meet you where you are, and to provide the services that you need. We have an initial consultation where we discuss your specific financial and family circumstances and goals. Based on all of these factors, we determine what legal tools you need to complete an estate plan that works for you. After that we produce the relevant documents , we review and discuss them together, and finally we meet again to sign the documents. Clients receive a convenient organizational binder in which all of their estate documents and explanatory documents are stored as well as digital copies of their documents.