There are many reasons why a person may need the services of a lawyers. However, while many people think of a lawyer’s services when there is some sort of law that has been broken, the services can be beneficial to everyone. Such is the case when someone is considering their end-of-life affairs, like establishing a will, a living trust or they need to secure legal representation for probate.
Drawing Up or Changing a Will
The most common end-of-life arrangement is establishing a will. This is where the wishes concerning the disseminating of assets after someone has passed away are spelled out. Having a lawyer handling the drafting and updates to an existing will means the document will be in compliance with all Illinois state law and upon a person’s death, the will can legally go into force.
Protecting an Estate from Estate Taxes and Probate
Living trusts are excellent for people with great wealth to be distributed after their death. A living trust is appealing because it legally avoids the estate or death tax. In addition, it can also prevent the estate from going through a lengthy and expensive probate process. However, this type of estate planning is quite complicated, and in order to set it up correctly and have the living trust properly managed, the services of a lawyer are invaluable.
Legal Guidance During Probate
Lastly, there are probate issues that will need to be taken care of and estate planning lawyer can be extremely helpful in these situations. Most estates that don’t have established and funded trusts will have to go through the probate process after the estate owner has died. The executor of the estate will have to navigate through the court process. A good estate plan will name legal counsel to help the executor deal with the court probate process.
Whatever your plans are for your estate, it will be important to work with a lawyer. Whether you’re drawing up or amending a will, setting up a trust, or your estate executor will need legal representation during the probate process, an attorney can do all of this and much more.
