- If you want to protect your family, yourself, and your finances in case you become incapacitated, you need an estate plan.
- If you want your loved ones to understand that you don’t wish to receive life-extending treatments when you are very close to death and it is merely prolonging the inevitable, you need an estate plan.
- If you have young children, you need an estate plan to ensure they are protected and provided for in case something happens to you.
- If you want your assets to be distributed in any other way than the default distribution under the intestate statute (the vast majority of people do want something other than this), you need an estate plan. For example, you need an estate plan if you want to:
- Donate some property to charity,
- Give your car or other treasured possession to a certain friend or family member,
- Ensure that your spouse gets all of your assets, OR
- Give a greater share of your property to a particular loved one, such as a child, who may have greater needs than your other family members
- If any of your family members have special needs and rely on public benefits such as Medicaid or SSI, you need an estate plan to prevent them becoming ineligible for their benefits if they receive an inheritance from you.
- If you have more than $5.43 million in assets ($10.86 million for couples), you need an estate plan so that the government doesn’t take a chunk of your hard-earned property through the estate tax.
Our estate planning attorney, Catherine Bruce, is here to help you with your will, advance directives, trust, guardianship, or special needs trust. We work with individuals and families in Pittsboro, Siler City, Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Hillsborough and surrounding areas. Call us today at (919) 903-9442 or email us to schedule an appointment.