Mesa Estate Planning Lawyer

Mesa Estate Planning Services Help You Protect Your Family’s Future

If you own property or have loved ones to care for, you should have an estate plan. This often comes as a surprise to people, who think estate planning is only for the extremely wealthy.

While wealthy families often have unique estate planning needs, the truth is you don’t need to own a mansion and several businesses to have an “estate” or to need an estate plan. Your “estate” simply refers to the assets that you leave behind to your family or other beneficiaries.

You have an estate even if all you have is a modest, single-family home in Mesa or a retirement savings plan. Your estate plan can be as simple or as sophisticated as you would like, but this plan can help you to ensure that you have control of your assets while you are alive and well, that you can provide for yourself and your loved ones if you ever become incapacitated, and that you can give or pass on these assets to whomever you want, when you want, in the way that you want.

Without an estate plan, your assets could go to people or be administered in ways that you don’t want. In some cases, your family could be left without what they need to maintain their lifestyle after you are gone.

Gunderson Law Group can help you put together a solid estate plan that minimizes the risk of any dispute over your assets and ensures that your family’s future is protected.

Financial or Sentimental Value Items

More specific legal definitions of an estate can also apply. For example, a probate estate is distributed under the discretion of the probate court, usually to first satisfy debts. A taxable estate refers to property that is subject to estate taxes, which can be quite substantial depending on the value of the estate.

An Arizona estate planning lawyer from our team can help you put together an estate plan that considers taxes and other issues to ensure that your assets go to the people you want without risk of dispute. You don’t want your property to end up in a contested probate, which can whittle away at the value and tie up assets for years.

For example, a living will tells your relatives what you want to happen if you become seriously ill or injured, such as if you want to be kept on artificial life support. A durable power of attorney gives someone the right to make legal decisions on your behalf if you become unable to do so for yourself.

A trust often serves as the foundational part of an estate plan. When creating a trust, you prepare a trust agreement that lays out very specific instructions on how your assets should be administered and distributed to your loved ones. This agreement often contains instructions on how to manage your assets if you become disabled, as well as how to manage or distribute your assets upon your death. In many cases, careful trust planning can be a useful tool in obtaining protection from creditors and unnecessary taxes.

Having the right documents in place will ensure that your final wishes are honored and that your assets go to the people you want. Without the right estate plan, your assets could become tied up in legal disputes or people you don’t want making decisions for you could wind up in charge.

What Is Included in an Estate Plan?