Best Estate Planning Attorneys in Palatine, IL

A will is a formal set of instructions to your loved ones and the court telling it what to do with your kids and your stuff after you pass away. If you do not have a lot of assets and you do not anticipate your family fighting over anything, a will may be a good choice. To enforce a will, a probate lawsuit needs to be filed. Probate cases take a lot of time and can be expensive. It also makes a lot of your private information publicly accessible. If you end up with a messy contested probate case, a lot of money that you wanted to pass on to your family will end up going to lawyers instead of your family. Many families create a trust to avoid this.

A power of attorney is a legal document that gives one or more persons the right to act on behalf of another person as their agent. A power of attorney is very useful if you become disabled because it can allow the person you choose to conduct your affairs. A power of attorney can give your agent the power to manage your property (real estate, investments, etc.) and your health care decisions.

This is a document that allows someone else to manage your personal property and real estate. If you become disabled, having a valid power of attorney for property will allow you to access these assets and sell or transfer them if you need to.

This document allows someone else to make health care decisions for you if you are unable to communicate your wishes. If you are married, your spouse is usually your first choice for this, but it is also important to choose a second person in case something happens and your spouse is not around.

It depends on who is on the title of the home and how much control you want over who it goes to. For most married couples, the house is owned by both you and your spouse with rights of survivorship. That means if one of your passes, the house automatically goes to the other. The tricky question is what happens to the house if you are the only owner or both you and your spouse pass away. In this case, the state of Illinois will tell your family who gets the house (through the laws of succession). If you want to do something different, a will or a trust will allow you to decide who gets the house.