Estate planning is an important process for adults in many different situations. People need to name a guardian when they have children and/or better ensure the right person will inherit their business when they die. The paperwork included in an estate plan can communicate somebody’s wishes to the Michigan probate courts and their family members. It can also help preserve someone’s resources and provide a safety net for their dependent family members.
Despite how crucial estate planning paperwork is to someone’s legacy and the protection of their loved ones, a surprising number of people just download boilerplate documents from the internet and think that they have adequately planned for the future. The average adult will benefit from having an attorney facilitate the estate planning process.
What exactly will a lawyer who practices estate planning and probate law do for a client?
Analyze the situation to meet someone’s needs
One of the most important roles of an estate planning attorney is to provide advice and guidance. A lawyer will help testators determine what moves they need to make for their protection and to achieve the legacy that they have in mind. Clients come in and inform a lawyer of their personal resources, family circumstances and wishes regarding who will inherit their property and what other kinds of support they think they or their loved ones will need in the future. The attorney can then guide someone to put the right paperwork in place based on someone’s needs, wishes and circumstances.
Create custom documents
Generic estate planning paperwork will typically only suffice to meet generic goals. Testators and their close family members typically derive far more protection from carefully crafted, bespoke estate planning documents than they do from generic documents that only include a few details added on specific lines. The more thorough and precise estate planning paperwork is, the easier it will be to use those documents to uphold someone’s wishes and the less likely they are to violate Michigan law.
Lawyers can help someone draft many different types of valuable estate planning paperwork, including:
- wills
- trusts
- family LLCs
- powers of attorney
- living wills
- advance healthcare directives
Instead of using boilerplate documents, the estate planning lawyer can put together bespoke documents that adhere to Michigan law and better achieve someone’s estate planning goals. That lawyer will also be able to help in the future if someone needs to update their documents. They may even later assist in estate administration or could potentially testify in court to affirm that a testator was sound of mind at the time that they made certain decisions.
Overall, a lawyer’s role includes providing guidance, drafting enforceable documents and sometimes even facilitating estate administration. As a result, seeking legal guidance is important for those with resources or dependents that require advance planning.
