Estate Planning Mistakes to Avoid in New York: Protecting Your Legacy and Ensuring Your Wishes Are Honored
To think some estate plan misconceptions and common estate mistakes haven’t done much damage to estate planning is unprecedented. One popular mistake is taking someone else’s estate plan template to create yours. While wills are now downloadable online, be aware that estate planning is not one-size-fits-all. There may be a need to customize your will, trust, as well as other estate documents to suit your estate goals without compromising the validity of your document, and it becomes imperative that you seek help from an experienced estate planning lawyer near you. These mistakes are so easy to make. It is not what you want for your estate and for your loved ones. So many people feel they can handle estate planning on their own and so end up not considering critical issues, therefore complicating things for their loved ones after death. This section aims to highlight some of these mistakes. Having a will is not a one-size-fits-all. It requires certain steps and processes.
Thinking Estate Planning is Only for the Wealthy
Regardless of the value, whatever assets and belongings you have in your name are called your estate. If all you have is a car and a bank account with two children, if you do not state clearly whom you want the car to go to, then there likely will be squabbles over it when you die. It is good to consider that assets are more than just homes. It can be things you value. At Morgan Legal Group, we want to set this up to make your life easier for all.
Neglecting Estate Tax Planning
In New York, the estate tax is an amount payable to the State when you die, leaving an estate worth over $5.85 million. The tax can reach up to 16%, which is a considerable amount. If your estate will be subject to this and you wish to avoid it, your attorney can help achieve that by gifting, establishing trusts, etc. If a larger amount comes with more taxes, you will need to find a great way to find planning.
Not Planning for Probate
If you create a will to disburse your estate, then a complex, lengthy and expensive court process known as probate must be carried out after your death to validate the will.
It will take a long time to have all of that sorted, so to get help it is always smart to seek an attorney, so they can go through all of that.
What you should be able to do:
- Complex planning with all the information on deck.
- Working with probate and all that comes.
Having a long-term mindset helps with understanding how everything will go. Contact us today to learn more on this.
Neglecting Incapacity Planning
Some people feel estate planning is all about planning for the disbursement of one’s estate after death. Ideally, it also has to do with the management of said estate during incapacity.
What needs to be done during this time? Power of attorney and a health proxy:
Power of attorney authorizes someone to help you with financial and business.
You want someone with the best interests in mind, and you may also need some financial knowledge. It is essential to have all of this information with you.
A health proxy is also to be had, for specific guidance and directions for medical help. Make sure your health is in order.
This allows your medical team to follow any requests if you were to get an accident.
These all ensure support and proper help.
Not Updating Your Estate Plan Regularly
If you have already created an estate plan, it is important to review it from time to time. This is because, as life continues, situations change, which would require a relative change to your estate plan. It’s a very hard thing to look for and what will come and what you should focus on. You will need someone with care to help look over everything with compassion.
Here are changes to keep in mind:
- Births or adoptions
- Divorces
- Deaths in the family
To keep everything in order, seek and value a review. Things are always changing.
Working With The Team At Morgan Legal Group!
We want to make sure you are all set with all that you might need, what to consider, and that your future is something you feel good about. Contact us and work with Russell Morgan Esq. today!
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Morgan Legal Group proudly serves the New York City community including the Bronx, Brooklyn, NYC, Queens, and Staten Island. If you are outside of New York City we also serve Long Island including Suffolk County. As well as Westchester, Ulster County, and Orange County.NY Courts
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