Developing and creating an estate plan is never truly easy because there’s so much to consider. You have to account for all your assets and create a plan for how your heirs will inherit. You also need to appoint someone to make medical and financial decisions on your behalf if you become incapacitated. A lot of time and effort goes into planning your estate and handling it all online can feel like an overwhelming task at first.
The good news is that you can easily avoid making estate planning mistakes while meeting all of your goals, and with the proper team by your side the whole process will be simplified and stress free. Our estate planning attorneys in San Diego recommend that you simply ask yourself these four essential questions when you create your estate plan online:
Question #1 – Do You Know What Your Online Estate Plan Will Accomplish?
You need to write down the estate planning goals that you want to accomplish. This can incorporate many different aspects, such as probate avoidance, guardianships, and optimizing inheritance strategies. Think about your loved ones and the people under your care. Try to determine what’s best for you and your loved ones.
Question #2 – Did You Include Everything You Own as Part of Your Estate Plan Online?
It’s important to recognize that there are several benefits of having an estate plan. When building your estate plan online, you have to systematize and account for everything in your possession. This includes any bank accounts, retirement funds, and investment accounts in your name. You’ll also have to take inventory of any tangible property you own that’s of value. Some examples include jewelry, antiques, cars, boats, and residential/commercial real estate.
Question #3 – How Do You Get Organized?
Regardless of whether you’re estate planning for a blended family or you’re doing traditional estate planning, begin by making a list of your beneficiaries and create a detailed family tree to help assess your family relationships. You should also consider your family members and trusted individuals to decide who should be appointed as the successor trustee and executor of your estate. These will be some of the most consequential appointments in your plan as it is ultimately the person to carry out your wishes.
Your financial situation also requires a great deal of scrutiny when building your estate plan. You should calculate your assets and compare them to the amount of money you owe (i.e., any debt or financial liabilities you’ve accumulated). You always want to ascertain a fuller picture of your finances before you begin planning, so that we know exactly what we’re planning around and whether advanced planning around the estate tax exemption amounts will apply.
Covering some of the basics will also make it easier to plan your estate online. This includes determining to whom you want to grant legal authority to manage and distribute your assets. Furthermore, you should also write down detailed instructions for how you want your heirs to receive their inheritances.
Questions #4 – Should You Work With a Professional?
It doesn’t hurt to contact a professional to help execute your estate plan online. Completing all the necessary documents may require some assistance to ensure everything is consistent with the law. Remember, simply creating a Last Will & Testament won’t accomplish all of your estate planning goals, and you have to make sure you have adequate guidance to get you where you’re trying to go.
Here’s how an attorney can assist you:
- Custom draft your estate planning documents to ensure they’re accurate and effective
- Recommend different strategies to help bolster your plan and optimize techniques used
- Provide you with physical copies of your estate plan and retain digital copies at the firm
- Discuss your estate planning goals with you in greater detail and make sure you understand how the parts and pieces work together.
Once you’ve developed your plan, it’s time to put everything into action, and here at Jenkins & Jenkins in San Diego, we can help facilitate the entire process. Working with a team of professionals will prove to be very beneficial. Contact us today and schedule a consultation with one of our legal experts who can help you accomplish your goals.
Testimonial from Komal, Satisfied Estate Planning Client
We have been putting this off for a long time and have been skeptical about the whole process, but we are so glad to complete our Trust documents with Jenkins & Jenkins. It has been a gratifying experience working with Michael Jenkins and Caroline Jenkins as they worked on our Trust, health directives, wills, and power of attorney, the experience has been great and not only made the process easy but also I now understand and learned a lot during the process, and they are our trust go to people for life. They are professional, and they made the experience easy, fast, and well worth it.
