Best Estate Planning Attorneys in Cedar Park, TX

Dying without a will means that someone has died intestate. If you pass away with no will in place state law will fill in the gaps and dictate who gets what. This means that you will not go to decide who gets your assets, but the state will make thosedecisions for you. This may include who gets to care for your minor children andmanage their assets until they are old enough to take care of themselves.

A trust is a legal arrangement that can provide incredible flexibility for the ownership of certain assets, thereby enabling you and your heirs to achieve a number of significant personal goals that cannot be achieved otherwise. Plainly put, a revocable living trust is a written document that determines how your assets will be handled after you die. A critical difference between a will anda trust is that a will has to be filed with the probate court, reviewed, and approved before anyone can act under it or receive assets from your estate. A trust is a completely private document. No one is entitled to see it, except those who are named in it, and the successor trustee named in your trust can act immediately, without having to go to court, file anything, or get permission first. Unlike a will, a trust can also provide for management of your property and use of the assets for your benefit (and that of your family) if you should become incapacitated, thereby avoiding an appointment of a guardian for that purpose.

A living will is your written expression of how you want tobe treated in certain medical circumstances. Depending on state law, this document may permit you to express whether you wish to be given life-sustaining treatments in the event you are terminally ill or injured, to decide in advance whether you wish to be provided food and water via intravenous devises, and to give other medical directions that impact your care, including the end of life.

It is important that you make your express wishes known regarding your preferences concerning medical treatments in an extreme medical situation where you cannot communicate, including at the end of your life. By making these express wishes known in written legal documents, you are ensuring that your preferences are made known. In addition to allowing your physician to make treatment decisions based upon your own express wishes, you are making the decisions for yourself so that your family does not have to guess about what you would want. Making your wishes known in advance prevents family members from making hard choices at what likely will be one of the most stressful times in their lives.

Probate is the formal legal process that gives recognition to a will and appoints the executor or personal representative who will administer the estate and distribute assets to the intended beneficiaries. It is important to remember that probate is in fact court and everything filed with the court is public.