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A first step in forming the future

On Behalf of | Apr 14, 2015 | Estate Planning |

Before you sit down for an initial consultation with your St. George estate planning law firm, you might well be asked to fill out a form. The form is typically straightforward, seeking to get from you information about who you are, an overview of your assets, and most important, an idea of what you would like to do with those assets when you pass on.

In that way, when you and your attorney sit down to talk face-to-face, some of the preliminary fact-finding has been done and the two of you can begin to focus on your estate plan.

The form and the discussion have more than one purpose, however. They enable you to look over your information as well, and begin to form in your mind what an appropriate strategy might look like. In that way, you are able to evaluate the attorney’s recommendations and how smoothly the two of you work together in making adjustments to perhaps your expectations or to his or her outline of an estate plan.

The more precise you are with the information you provide in that form about you, your family, income, real estate, mortgage, bank accounts, pensions, life insurance, and of course, any business interests you have, the better you and your attorney can work together toward ensuring that your wishes for your estate are carried out.

You can talk over taxes that might affect your estate or your heirs. And if those heirs are minors, you will naturally enough discuss guardianships for them or other provisions for them in the event of your death or your spouse’s death.

Many of the issues can pretty quickly become complex, which is why it is so reassuring to so many to have an experienced estate planning lawyer who understands the process, paperwork and emotions involved in these weighty decisions.