The end of the year is the perfect time to review and evaluate the important things in your life, including your personal legal matters. A few hours invested in your future financial and health-related security is well worth the time and effort. Here are some essential components of every family’s legal security plan. Be sure to check them out now so they aren’t forgotten over the holiday festivities and you can start the New Year off worry-free.
Review your estate plan. Many times having a joint title to your accounts is not enough. Depending on your circumstances, you may need a trust to avoid leaving the burden of probate on your family. The living trust allows you to transfer the assets to the trust, but you retain control and can manage or revoke the trust. The trust allows you to choose a successor trustee and decide who will receive the assets at your death. Upon your death, the court need not be involved and probate is not required. A trust can help you if you are ever disabled by accident or illness because the successor trustee can manage the trust property without a lengthy court process.
Establish your “living will” or health care directive. An “advance health care directive” allows you to choose the best person to handle decisions about your health care (including life-sustaining treatment) in the event you become disabled. The federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) created strict rules about the privacy and disclosure of personal health information. Accordingly, it is important that you include specific language in your directive that identifies your personal agent as your “personal representative” with the power to obtain your health information for HIPAA purposes.
Determine how your property is titled.How you title your property will affect your overall estate plan. There are 4 basic forms of ownership:
- exclusive propertyIt will give you sole control over the property, but its drawbacks include the lack of heavy tax burdens and probate when the owner dies. Most individual homeowners use this title method because they don’t know of a better alternative.
- Co-owners with rights of survivorshipit will automatically pass to the surviving owner at death and not through your will or trust. However, the surviving owner is not required to share the property with any other family members.
- tenants in commonit will allow each owner to own a specific and unequal share. His part of the property will pass according to the terms of his will. Again, this will involve succession.
- Tenure for the wholeis real estate held by a husband and wife in which each owns the undivided whole of the property, along with the right of survivorship, whereby upon the death of one, the survivor is entitled to the deceased’s share .