Many people automatically think about wills when they hear the term estate planning lawyer. However, these professionals offer a wide range of services other than writing wills for their clients. Below is an excerpt discussing the services provided by estate planning lawyers. 

Estate Appraisal And Management

It would be unreasonable to write a will without knowing the value of your estate. Therefore, an estate planning lawyer's first task is to establish the value of your estate. During this assessment, the lawyer will come up with some estate management strategies. For instance, they could advise you to let go of depreciating assets and use that money to repay some of your debts. 

Creating Trusts 

Trusts are essential when you need to decide how your beneficiaries will use their inheritance. For instance, you may want to prevent a spendthrift beneficiary from misusing their inheritance. Below are a few ways that the lawyer will help you when creating trusts: 

  • The lawyer will help you choose appropriate trusts. For instance, a family trust empowers the trustee to decide when and how to make payouts to the beneficiaries. On the other hand, a unit trust allocates each beneficiary specified shares in the trust.
  • They will help you set the terms of the trust deed. For instance, will payouts be made in lump sum or instalments? What conditions will terminate the trust?
  • The lawyer will ensure that your trust meets your state's legal standards. Typically, you will need to pay stamp duty, register the trust as a business and open a bank account in the trust's name.
  • If you cannot find an appropriate trustee, the estate planning lawyer can recommend financial institutions that can manage the trust. 

Power Of Attorney (POA)

A power of attorney allows an individual to make financial or medical decisions if you are not in a position to do so. For instance, if you are ill in a hospital or suffer a mental illness. The lawyer will offer invaluable advice as you create a power of attorney. For example, they could advise you to have more than one agent. The secondary agent will make decisions when the primary agent is unavailable or abdicates their duties. Besides, the POA should have specific terms. For example, you could prevent the agents from accessing specified bank accounts, making decisions regarding your business or selling your assets. 

When hiring an estate planning lawyer, ascertain their reputation and experience in estate planning matters. Besides, the lawyer should be affordable and have reasonable terms. 

To learn more, contact a local estate planning lawyer.

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