Contact:
Alison Arden Besunder
212-695-8100, ext. 289
[email protected]
Everyone Needs These 3 Must-Have Documents for Estate Planning
An Estate Plan ensures that your needs, your families’ needs, and financial goals are met during your lifetime and upon your death.
A thorough and comprehensive plan would include:
- A Last Will & Testament
- A Power of Attorney
- A Health Care Proxy
- A Living Will
- A Trust (depending on your needs).
Although we all expect the best, it is always good to prepare for the worst. Leaving loose ends when it comes to your estate can lead to family fights and expensive legal bills. Spare your family by being prepared.
There are three documents that are absolute musts:
- A Will
- A durable Power of Attorney, for finances and other personal matters
- A Health Care Proxy, known in some states as a “power of attorney for health care”
Some people may also find it beneficial to have a revocable trust. If you own property in more than one state, for example, this would allow you to avoid probate in each of those jurisdictions.
“That’s easy enough,” you say. “I can just find all the forms I need online, right?”
Well, you can, but it’s not a good idea. Only a lawyer can truly assess your needs and give you a global evaluation and documents tailored to your circumstances and situation.
Although a “kit” may be cheaper on the front end, it could cost you and your estate and heirs many, many times more than that when the documents are challenged in court and ultimately held to be ineffective, void, or construed in a manner contrary to what you intended.
Goetz Fitzpatrick has been practicing law throughout the New York Metropolitan area and The Hamptons, since 1967. The firm has deep expertise in Construction and Real Estate, as well as Corporate, Bankruptcy, Trust & Estates and Labor & Employment. The firm’s office is located at One Penn Plaza, Suite 3100, New York, NY 10119, Telephone 212 695 8100.
