Now that you’ve got the number of an estate planning attorney Ashburn, it’s time that you begin your attempt at creating an estate plan that will protect your loved ones and assets. This is one of the most important documents that you will be working on and will affect the life of your loved ones when you pass on.
Here are the steps that you should take to ensure that you come up with right plan for you.
Ask Yourself What Is Important
The first thing that you should clear up with your estate planning attorney Ashburn is what exactly it is you are planning to protect and what to do. For example, you may want to give your money to distant relatives instead of your children. You might also want to protect your assets when it comes to the probate.
There are a wide variety of items that you will want to pay attention to. This includes your real estate, personal items, and more. Knowing what exactly it is you want to pass on is a good idea. When you’re doing this, you should also take a look at potential taxes that you might need to pay and how much you will be spending. This ensures that there won’t be any surprise for your heirs.
Talk to Your Attorney
Now that you know exactly what you want, you will want to have a conversation with your attorney. If you have a good lawyer, they will be able to point out potential strategies for doing what you need to do. A lot of lawyers provide consultations for free, but some of them charge for it. They even do home visits.
Your talk with the attorney should point you the way towards how you should go about ensuring that your estate plan will be a good fit for your family.
Make a First Draft
Now that the initial discussion is over, it’s time that you come up with a first of estate plans. You can actually leave all of the heavy lifting to your lawyer. They know the right papers to make and what needs to be approved. You will just need to sign.
However, this is a first draft and that means you will need to review it before you sign on the dotted line. Always read the estate plan documents and bring up questions and concerns. This way you can hammer things out and ensure that you are getting the estate plan that you want.
Implementing the Estate Planning
When it is all said and done, it is time for you to implement it all. It is actually pretty simple. You just need to have the documents, two witnesses and a notary. Sign the estate plans in the presence of the witnesses and have the documents notarized. Keep the original documents while your lawyer should keep a copy.
Yearly Updates
After that, all you need to do is to update the estate plans every year. These should be limited changes depending on the life situation. Sometimes, you won’t even change anything, but it is good to have an update anyway to ensure that everything is fresh for your heirs.
Estate planning is not as simple as writing a will. Let our estate planning attorney Ashburn from Dominion Legal PLC guide you every step of the way. Contact us today so we can discuss what your next move should be.