Oklahoma City Estate Planning Attorneys
No matter the stage of life, everyone wants to know that their loved ones will be taken care of and that their hard-earned assets will be protected.
Our goal at Postic & Bates is to help you protect what matters most, ensuring your family’s future and achieving peace of mind through a well-crafted estate plan.
Common Estate Planning Documents
While there are countless estate planning options, there are a few documents that almost everyone should consider when creating an estate plan:
Last Will and Testament: Wills control what happens to your assets after you die, but only the assets that have to go through probate. A will does not avoid the need for probate after your death.
Trust: Similar to a will, a trust states how you want your estate to be distributed upon your death. Unlike a will, however, a properly funded trust can avoid the need for probate.
Transfer on Death Deed: A transfer on death (TOD) deed allows you to provide for the transfer of real estate upon your death without the need for probate. For a TOD deed to be effective, not only does it need to be properly executed and recorded with the appropriate office, but all of the designated beneficiaries must file certain documents within nine months of your death. If any beneficiary does not file the correct documents in that time, they will have to go through probate.
Durable Power of Attorney: A power of attorney appoints someone (your “Agent”) to have the legal authority to act for you in certain situations, such as making medical or financial decisions, if you are ever unable to do so.
Advance Directive for Health Care: Often called a “living will,” an advance directive allows you to express your preference for continuing or withdrawing artificial life support if you are in a terminal or end-stage condition or a persistently unconscious condition.
You can learn more about these documents using the menu on the left-hand side of the page or by exploring our Estate Planning Blog.
Other Estate Planning Options
The attorneys at Postic & Bates have 50+ years of experience providing clients with comprehensive estate planning services. In addition to the common documents mentioned above, we also advise clients with respect to other estate planning issues such as:
Asset Protection
Medicaid Planning
Special Needs Planning
Estate Tax Planning
Charitable Giving
Business Formation
These are complex legal matters that require specialized expertise most estate planning attorneys do not have. If done incorrectly, planning of this variety can have disastrous consequences.
Equally dangerous is when people use “Do-It-Yourself” estate planning programs or online documents. Without the advice of a qualified estate planning attorney, DIY estate planning documents might not achieve your goals or carry out your wishes—or might even cause more harm than good. In fact, you may end up paying an attorney more to fix your estate planning problems than you “saved” in the first place.
Plan for the Future, Get Peace of Mind
Estate planning is not a one size fits all proposition. It is an incredibly broad topic and, as noted above, there are countless options available. You can learn more about those options by downloading our free Estate Planning Guide loaded with 70+ of estate planning information.
To help you best prepare for the future and determine which estate planning options might be right for you, contact the experienced Oklahoma City estate planning attorneys at Postic & Bates to schedule a free consultation.
[As with all of our online materials, the contents of this article do not constitute legal advice and are subject to our site-wide disclaimer.]