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With offices in Minden and Carson City, Nevada, the Vander Laan Law Firm, LLC proudly provides estate planning services to people in Nevada, including residents relocating from California who need to update their estate planning documents.
Attorney Natalia Vander Laan offers a full range of estate planning services to help her clients meet their financial goals, minimize tax liability, and efficiently and effectively transfer property from one generation to the next. Ms. Vander Laan partners with her clients to create a comprehensive estate planning strategy that will ensure that their wishes are carried out as they transfer wealth from one generation to the next.
What Is Estate Planning?
Estate planning is the process that allows you to control how your property is transferred to the people and organizations you care about most. Your estate plan provides instructions on how to transfer your property. This means identifying who will receive your property, what they will receive, and when they will receive it. An effective estate plan accomplishes these goals as quickly and efficiently as possible, with the least amount of money spent on taxes, legal fees, and court costs.
Is Estate Planning for Everyone?
Everyone has an estate, and everyone can and should plan for what will happen to their estate as they get older, and even after they die.
Your estate is made up of everything you own. This includes your home, your car, and any other real estate you own, as well as your checking and savings accounts, investments, life insurance policies and benefits, furniture, and personal possessions.
To ensure that your property is passed on to the people and organizations you care about, your estate plan will identify the people or organizations that you want to receive your property. The estate plan directs the court and others to ensure that your property is transferred to the appropriate people and organizations when you want them to receive it.
In addition to spelling out how your property will be transferred, an effective estate plan also gives you peace of mind knowing that you will have control over your final days. Your estate plan can specify the type of medical care you do or do not wish to receive, where you will spend your final days, and whether or not you want medical providers to take extraordinary measures to save you if your life is coming to an end.
While estate planning may involve thinking about what will happen when you die, estate planning is not just for the elderly. In fact, a good estate plan is just as important for young families with a modest income as it is for wealthy people who have retired.
What Is Included in an Estate Plan?
An estate plan gives you control over how you spend your final days and spells out how your property will be transferred upon your death. To accomplish these goals, an estate plan may include the following:
- Trust
- Last Will and Testament
- Durable Power of Attorney
- Healthcare Power of Attorney
- Living Will and Advance Directives
A basic estate plan typically includes a Last Will and Testament, a Power of Attorney, a Healthcare Power of Attorney, a Living Will, and Advance Directives. These documents ensure that your wishes will be carried out if you are unable to carry them out on your own. This could be because of an accident, due to declining mental health, or because you have passed away. Together, these documents form the basis of the legacy you will pass on to future generations, and ensures that the people you care about are taken care of in the way you see fit.
Your Last Will and Testament identifies your assets, usually in broad categories, and specifies how those assets will be passed on after your death. Your Will also identifies the executor of your estate, and can specify a guardian for any children who are under the age of 18.
A Property Power of Attorney allows another person to manage your business, legal, and financial affairs if you are unable to do so.
A Healthcare Power of Attorney identifies someone who will make healthcare-related decisions for you if you are unable to make them yourself.
A Living Will and other Advance Directives allow you to make your wishes known regarding the end of your life, especially as it relates to extra-ordinary life-saving measures and medical care and treatment you do or do not wish to receive.
A Trust is similar to a Last Will and Testament in that it specifies how your property will be distributed, but a Trust offers more flexibility and can be used to address more complex estate planning situations.
The Vander Laan Law Firm: Peace of Mind Through Proper Estate Planning
The Vander Laan Law Firm offers estate planning services that allow you to make your wishes known regarding when and how you will transfer property to future generations, and who will care for your children if you are unable to do so. Working with a knowledgeable and experienced estate planning attorney gives you peace of mind, secure in the knowledge that your estate planning documents were prepared the right way, and comply with applicable laws in Nevada or California.
Estate planning does not need to be expensive. In fact, investing in a sound estate plan will actually save you money in the long run. Preparing your estate plan now can help your family avoid future problems and expensive probate fees. But estate planning can be complicated, and should not be done without the help of a knowledgeable professional. Working with an experienced estate planning attorney ensures that your estate plan is done right, and helps you avoid consequences that you did not intend.
While no one likes to think about our own mortality, estate planning gives you the freedom to plan what will happen at the end of your life and after your death, and the control to create your own legacy by directing how your assets will be passed on after your death.
Protect What Matters Most: Nevada Estate Planning Attorney
With offices in Minden and Carson City, Nevada estate planning attorney Natalia Vander Laan cares deeply about her clients and helps them achieve peace of mind.
Learn more about what sets the Vander Laan Law Firm apart from other attorneys in Carson Valley, get to know Natalia Vander Laan, and contact the Vander Laan Law Firm today to schedule a consultation to discuss your estate planning needs.