Cordele, GA Estate Planning Law Firms & Lawyers

Please accept my condolences on the loss of your brother. As for your question: no one can advise you on what kind of estate planning documents you should have in place in this kind of forum. You need to contact an estate planning attorney and get a consultation in order to get personal advice on that kind of thing. That said, I'll try to answer your question in general terms so you have more information. 1. A Living Will is a health care document, not a document that addresses what happens with your assets. In Georgia, the Living Will has actually been eliminated as a separate document- the topic that it covers, which is actually only the kinds of medical treatment and life support that you do (or do not) want provided if you are determined to be in certain medical situations where your prognosis is dire, is now covered by an Advance Directive for Health Care, which also appoints an agent who can make a much broader array of health care decisions for you. That said, you should have an Advance Directive, yes- everyone should. 2. A Will (as opposed to a Living Will) is a document that says, basically, "Now that I am dead, here's how you should distribute my probate estate assets and who's in charge of doing that." In order for the Will to become legally effective after your death, it has to be admitted to probate. In Georgia, probate is actually a relatively inexpensive and quick process, IF (a) the Will is well-written; contains a self-proving affidavit; waives bond, inventory, and reports; and grants the executor sufficient powers; and (b) none of the heirs are underage, missing and unfindable, or in disagreement with the validity of the Will. The part that most people find difficult and time-consuming is actually not probate: it's the process of administering the estate- determining what debts need to be paid, collecting assets, filing needed tax returns, and winding up and distributing the estate's assets. 3. Having a trust does not avoid administration- you still have to administer a trust. And, to make the administration process somewhat shorter using a trust, you have to move your assets into it while you are alive, meaning more work for you. You may be okay with that, you may not be. You could also have other special issues that may make it more worthwhile to do so. 4. In most cases, an irrevocable trust is not necessary. A Revocable trust is what is generally used if a person wants to include a trust as part of an estate plan for some reason. Irrevocable trusts are done for tax planning reasons, mostly, and sometimes Medicaid planning. Please get a consult with an experienced estate planning attorney who focuses on estate planning. Best wishes to you.

Any given trust or estate should only have one address. Figuring out which one that should be depends on what you're dealing with. A Living Will does not have an address; it's simply a document that says what its maker wants done (or not done) with regard to his health care if he is in a medical situation that is believed to be hopeless and meets certain other conditions. After the death of the creator of a Revocable Trust, the trust will use the NEW trustee's address, NOT the old trustee's address. As for the probate estate of a person who split their residence between multiple states, you have to figure out which state was the principal residence and that will be where the main probate has to take place, if a probate is needed (if the revocable trust was correctly and fully funded and there are no beneficiary designations that would point assets to the probate estate, a probate may not be needed). The principal residence is called the "domicile." Determining the domicile of a deceased person is not always easy where they had residences in multiple states. You look at factors such as: where the driver's license was held, where cars were registered, where the person registered to vote, where they had memberships in clubs, religious organizations, and similar groups, what address the person used for federal income tax filing purposes, and where he spent most of the year. It's not a hard-and-fast rule, it's more a weighing of factors. BUT the address that is used for the primary probate is NOT the estate's address, necessarily- the estate will use the address of the person who is appointed as its executor. I hope this is helpful. However, please consult an attorney in person to help you figure out exactly where any probate might be needed and what state should be considered the domicile, as well has to help you with any estate and trust admininstration. Best wishes to you.

I almost NEVER recommend adding your children to your real estate while you are still alive. Doing so makes a gift, generally a taxable one for which you need to file a gift tax return. It also exposes your real estate to your children's potential problems: divorce, creditor problems, etc. It can also create significant problems for you if you ever find yourself in need of Medicaid benefits for your own long-term care, and create problems for you for income tax purposes if the property is your principal residence and you sell the property during your lifetime. If you are considering adding your children to your real estate, you should first consult an estate planning attorney to discuss your reasons for thinking that you should do so and see whether there is a better way to address those concerns (there generally is). That being said, you do not have to use a quit claim deed to transfer interests in real estate. There are other types of deeds, and, in fact, it may often be preferable to use a Limited Warranty Deed or Warranty Deed to make a transfer with regard to real estate, because that can help preserve the benefits of any title insurance policy you may have on that property. But you DO have to use a deed to transfer an interest in real estate during your lifetime; there's not another way (at least not in Georgia--if you are in another state, that state's laws may allow for other kinds of transfers). The process of determining what kind of Will a person needs and what provisions that Will should have is ALWAYS estate planning. That's a large part of what that term means. The rest of estate planning means making sure that the person who is making the Will also has other needed documents, such as a Power of Attorney and and Advance Directive for Health Care, and helping the person make sure that any beneficiary designations and jointly owned assets will pass in the intended manner and not in a way that contradicts the intent. You don't have to be wealthy or have a complicated life to need estate planning. So no, I do not ever just help someone make a Will without engaging in estate planning. That being said, I have clients who have very simple Wills, as well as clients who have very complicated plans using all sorts of documents. Like many of my fellow estate planning attorneys, I am happy to work with people who need only simple planning as well as those whose needs are more complicated. The important part, from my perspective as an attorney, is that my clients need to be people who care what happens both during their lifetimes and after their deaths, and want to make sure things are done correctly. If you are interested in speaking to me, I do offer a free estate planning consultation. The purpose of the consultation is to determine the potential client's needs and goals, and develop an appropriate plan and a fee proposal. Best wishes to you.