Estate Planning in Dayton & Ohio: Free your family from difficult decisions & arguments over inheritance

January 2nd, 2011

Estate planning in Dayton and Ohio gives you control over your health care decisions and distribution of your assets if you are mentally incapacitated or deceased. At the very minimum, you should have a will, a durable power of attorney, a durable health care power of attorney, trust and a living will.

A will dictates how your assets in your sole name are distributed, including real estate, insurance benefits, investments and personal property. Without a will, a significant portion of your estate will go to probate attorneys hired to assist the probate court in distributing your assets.

A durable power of attorney assigns someone to act on your behalf in financial and legal matters if you are mentally incapacitated or deceased.

A durable health care power of attorney assigns someone such as a family member to speak on your behalf in medical matters if you are mentally incapacitated, including life support decisions.

A trust is a legal entity whereby a trustee manages trust assets on behalf of beneficiaries. In estate planning in Dayton and Ohio, trusts ensure that the property of a deceased person avoids probate and goes to the intended beneficiaries. It is much less expensive and more reliable than paying probate attorneys to manage your property after passing on.

Additional Steps for Complete Estate Planning in Davton & Ohio

A living will specifies whether extraordinary measures will be used to keep you alive whether you are permanently unconscious or terminal. Typically, a living will grants full authority to your doctors to make this decision.

Life insurance policies help ensure there is enough money to pay for medical expenses, burial and other end-of-life expenses so that your home, farm or other assets don’t have to be sold to pay these expenses.

Don’t forget to name a guardian for your children if you have any. This will be part of your will but is important enough to mention separately. If you and your spouse die without naming a guardian, your kids may end up with a relative you would not approve of, a relative who is reluctant to care for them, or in foster care.

These considerations are essential for good estate planning in Dayton and Ohio. Having these things in place will give you and your family peace of mind.