Legal-Ease: Asset distribution plans require thought

Lee R. Schroeder is an Ohio licensed attorney at Schroeder Law LLC in Putnam County. He limits his practice to business, real estate, estate planning and agriculture issues in northwest Ohio. He can be reached at Lee@LeeSchroeder.com or at 419-659-2058. This article is not intended to serve as legal advice, and specific advice should be sought from the licensed attorney of your choice based upon the specific facts and circumstances that you face.

Deciding how to distribute assets among loved ones upon death may seem straightforward. In practice, it quickly becomes clear that it is not so simple.

First of all, deciding to portion assets differently for different individuals can be challenging to outline. Even deciding to pass along everything “equally” is easier said than done. Many types of assets, such as property and businesses, are hard to divide.

In the end, decisions about a person’s estate distribution can only be made by that individual.

Attorneys use various tools to help people accomplish their estate planning goals, including tools such as trusts, LLCs, deeds, special real estate interests, agreements, powers of attorney and gifting plans. The ways in which the tools can be modified to address each person’s unique circumstances are almost unlimited if the attorney understands the tools and their proper uses.

Nonetheless, at the end of the day, there are some things that an attorney simply cannot do for his or her client. Foremost among those non-attorney tasks is deciding to whom possessions will be given when that client passes away.

Read more about asset distribution in Lee’s article for the Lima News, “Legal-Ease: Asset distribution plans require thought.”

Source: LimaOhio.com, “Legal-Ease: Asset distribution plans require thought,” by Lee R. Schroeder, April 22, 2017

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