Estate Planning Part 1

Foundational Concepts

Your Estate

What is an estate?When lawyers talk about estates, they’re not referring to large pieces of property or homes. The term “estate” refers to all the property, debts, and other legal issues you leave behind after you die, or after you become incapacitated.

Planning

What his estate planning? Everyone will leave behind an estate, and everyone has the ability to exert control over various aspects of what happens to that estate. Estate planning is the process by which you evaluate your options and make decisions that will later affect your estate.

Planning Choices

What types of choices do I get to make?There are many. You can make estate planning choices about the types of inheritances you want to leave, the people you want to represent your estate in court, the people you want to make decisions on your behalf if you become incapacitated, and more.

Estate Planning Tools

How I make these choices?By creating various estate planning tools. Each of the tools you create willaddress specific estate planning topics. We will discuss the types of tools youcan make in more detail in our next presentation, but for now, you shouldunderstand that your estate plan will involve multiple elements.