There's so much more to your Estate Planning than who gets what.

Whether you have young children or adult children, a generic estate plan that hasn't been specifically tailored for you and your family could cause confusion, lost opportunities, and feuding that could span generations. As a matter of fact, it is not uncommon for our office to take at least one phone call each week from someone wanting to sue their sibling after a surviving parent has died.

For most people (who own more than $23,000 worth of property), a "will" not accompanied by a properly implemented revocable living trust, will require a time consuming and expensive court process to transfer legal title to their heirs.

However, parents with a proper estate plan in place can save tens-of-thousands of dollars (and family harmony) by having the foresight to take planning ahead seriously. And of course, by planning ahead and being financially organized, our clients are able to realize opportunities that would otherwise have been missed.

If you have not yet worked with an experienced estate planning lawyer who helps parents with wills, trusts and related documents on a daily basis, you could be living with "false" peace of mind.

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One fortunate by-product of getting your estate planning done is the clarity and new understanding you will have of your finances. You will understand what you have, what would happen to each of your assets if you and your spouse were to pass away, as well as what might be missing for a more enriched retirement.

If your children are too young to handle inheriting "real" money, their inheritance can be protected from potential financial abuse (while they are young), or even as adults, from a potential divorce, bankruptcy, lawsuit claims against them and more.

If you have large qualified retirement accounts (401K, 403B, 457B, SEP, Traditional IRA's etc.), planning ahead of time can also ensure that these "life savings" type accounts are not squandered on taxes if it can be avoided or mitigated and that instead, extending the benefit from your hard earned life-savings are top-of-mind if exceptions to the standard rules are available when your estate is administered.

Indeed, the financial benefit to families who get organized and optimize the way assets are inherited, can be staggering in comparison to generic planning, and is an opportunity you will not want your family to miss.

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​If you have little ones, you must also consider what would happen if you did not make it home from a dinner, date night, or a trip to the grocery store.

It's not enough that you've "asked" someone to be a legal guardian for your children and to raise them if something happens to you. People forget, may become unwilling, physically unable, or easily yield to "undesirable" candidates with closer family ties.

As a matter of fact, without properly appointed legal guardians, children can end up in the care of strangers (foster care) for weeks or even months while permanent placement is sorted out by authorities, courts and lawyers.

If you have minor-aged children, your estate planning at Family Wills & Trusts, PLC will include our exclusive Minor-Child Protection Plan, so your children will always be well cared for and loved by familiar people they know and that you trust.

If you are the parent of a minor aged child, (and especially if you have no family nearby because you've moved to the Greater Lansing Area for school or for work), our Minor Child Protection Planning is exactly what you need to ensure your children will always be well cared for.

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