Warner Robins, GA Estate Planning Law Firms & Lawyers

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.  

Personal property disappearing between death and the court appointment of someone to settle the estate (even the person named as executor in a Will must receive a court appointment to act) is a widespread property. While dad is alive, only his agent named in a Durable Power of Attorney can take action.

Your question brings up a few different issues. For distribution purposes: A tax-deferred retirement account would normally be distributed under a beneficiary designation, which means that the Will would not control the disposition of those assets unless you designated your estate as the beneficiary. For income tax reasons, designating your estate as the beneficiary of a tax-deferred retirement savings account is NOT a good idea. Therefore, for purposes of dividing up your assets, ideally the tax-deferred retirement fund should NOT be controlled by your Will. Instead, you want the beneficiary designation to coordinate with your distribution wishes. It can name the same people who will benefit under the Will as beneficiaries. For estate tax purposes, the retirement fund will be added to your other assets in determining whether you have a taxable estate. Georgia has no estate tax, however, and the federal estate tax exemption is very high ($5.43M today, less taxable gifts made during lifetime), so most Georgia residents will not have taxable estates. For income tax purposes, cash or other assets you leave to your beneficiaries is normally not subject to income tax in their hands. However, a tax-deferred retirement account WILL normally be considered taxable income to your beneficiaries, if you didn't pay income taxes on the funds in the account during your lifetime. Ideally, consult a good estate planning attorney for help in determining the best way to leave your assets to your desired beneficiaries. It's a complicated area.