Category Archives: Probate

Legal-Ease: Facing a medical crisis without prior legal preparation

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Advance preparation doesn’t always happen as it should, and sometimes a medical crisis can leave you feeling helpless and underprepared. Fortunately, what you are likely to need from an attorney in a medical emergency is often pretty straightforward. 

First, be sure to execute two powers of attorney. This will allow someone to sign documents and make decisions for you. One power of attorney should address financial decisions while the other power of attorney should address healthcare decisions. You can also sign a living will if you’d like, but a good healthcare power of attorney should allow your agent to sign a DNR for you. 

Legal-Ease: Avoiding probate one asset at a time

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While this hasn’t always been the perception about probate, the probate process has improved significantly as a result of simplification of federal estate law calculation formulas as well as administrative efficiencies that have been implemented by our local probate judges.

Legal-Ease: Do I need a trust?

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Trusts can be thought of as contracts. They allow people to impose rules on inheritances, minimizing or eliminating estate taxes, if necessary. The “trustee” of the trust can distribute the property owned.

Legal-Ease: Going through probate

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Probate is how the law is set up to make sure that a deceased person’s bills are paid and that their remaining assets go where they were intended to go by the deceased person. When someone dies, it presents an opportunity for someone to either steal or misinterpret their intentions. A way to understand probate is to think of the two people who will represent the deceased after they die. The first person is the probate judge, who could be thought of as the person’s brain. The second person is the executor or administrator, who could be thought of as the arms and legs in actually moving ownership or possession.