Everyone should have an estate plan. You don’t need to worry if you are in your 20s and have little estate assets or if your relationship with family is not strong. Estate planning helps you prepare for the unexpected and ensures that your property is passed on to the right people at your death. A California estate planning questionnaire can help make the process easier, and you will be able to develop better estate planning options.
So why would you even need an estate planning questionnaire? Estate planning is a process that not everyone wants to go through. One reason is that many Californians are too busy to spend the time required to complete the paperwork and visit the Estate Planning Department. This is not the most fun topic to discuss, as it involves identifying who will inherit your property after you die. Death is a topic that many people avoid, but it’s inevitable.
If you are willing to invest some time, filling out an estate planning form and creating an estate plan can save your family a lot of time and trouble when it comes to distributing their investment assets.
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A Cost of Estate Planning
We must review some basic information before diving deeper into the steps of estate planning. Let’s take a look at the typical components and costs associated with estate planning.
Estate planning is expensive, and it depends on the value of the assets involved. The average cost of estate planning is $3,500. The cost may vary depending on your situation, your legal needs, and your estate plan. Be prepared to pay a lot of money if you hire a lawyer on an hourly basis. The average cost per hour for a lawyer specializing in estate planning is hundreds of dollars.
While a lawyer can give you peace of mind, you may find that there are other services in California such as registered legal document assistants that are less expensive than hiring an estate planning attorney. At Tenina Law office we offer a variety of packages depending on the needs and nature of your personal estate planning.
The “Trust Package“, which includes a will, a certificate of health and healthcare directive as well as a financial power of attorneys, is their most popular package. Select a trusted firm to manage your estate after you pass away. The main task will be to transfer the trust assets to your heirs.
A Teninalaw Estate Planning Survey
It takes time to create an estate plan. To ensure your estate plan is accurate and free of errors, it requires careful information gathering.
Fill out our estate planning questionnaire to help you add important details. This questionnaire is designed to help you create an estate plan that suits your real estate preferences. When you hire a lawyer they will also ask you to fill out a questionnaire. This helps them understand your needs and help you meet your end-of-life wishes.
We treat all the information you provide with the highest level of confidentiality. We will not disclose your information to anyone without your permission or agreement.
The Content of Estate Planning Questionnaire
The questionnaire can be used by either a married or non-married couple. Some questions may only apply to married couples with minor children under their care. Your civil status will have a major impact on the direction your estate plan takes. We encourage everyone, single or married, with children to fill out our estate planning questionnaire and start the process of planning for their real estate.
Filling out our fillable form is easy. It only takes a few minutes to fill in the blanks. Different law firms or document assistant services create different questionnaire formats depending on ownership. In some more detailed questionnaires, you may be asked for information such as personal details, family details, documents currently in use, financial data, the decisions that need to be made, and other bits of information.
As the form owner, it is your responsibility to ensure that all information provided in the form is accurate. You may be able to add supplementary information on one page in some questionnaires if you wish. If you own a company, you will need to describe the type of business you have and how it is organized.
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Four More Estate Planning Questions
You can write down the four questions below on paper or in a word processor document if you have already completed the questionnaire, or if you want to learn more about the estate planning process. These questions will help you to think about your situation more and determine what type of estate plan is best for you.
Question 1: What are your goals?
Do you want your business to survive your death? You want to ensure that your family is taken care of. Are you planning to gift a particular asset to someone ?”
You can visualize your estate plan by answering these questions. Setting goals is important for your estate plan, even though everyone has different reasons for planning and transferring their property to trustees. To create a trust contract, you need a good plan for your financial assets. The estate plan must also include items that are titled as revocable.
Question 2: What are your assets, then?
Many people do not create an estate planning strategy because they feel that their pension and non-retirement assets are too small compared to the value of what we see on television or in movies. This should not be true! You want your assets to be taken care of even if they are small, after you die.
When listing your assets you must note ownership. It is important to know if the property is owned jointly, as a joint property, or by a sole owner. This determines the treatment of your assets when evaluating your estate plan.
Question 3: What Are Your Beneficiaries?
If you have listed all your assets, is that enough to make sure everything will be okay after your death as well? Your estate may need to undergo probate to determine who gets what if your assets don’t have beneficiaries. List your beneficiaries for your assets to ensure that inheritance is a smooth process. You must include minor children when indicating potential recipients. You should also include the names of any deceased children in your questionnaire.
List your beneficiaries now to speed up the process in the future. It also helps you to understand who you value and how your assets and accidental death benefits will be distributed. List your beneficiaries to help you create a plan and avoid future disputes with people who are not listed in the plan. Take a minute to think about your family members, friends, charities, and anyone else you might want to include in your estate plan.
Question 4: What Kind of Estate Planning Would You Like?
Your specific situation will determine the type of estate that you require. No matter how large or small your estate is, you can include these four legal directives in it. Knowing these things can help you decide how to arrange your affairs.
- Will
Every estate plan must include a will. You can’t ignore this component. This document provides information about how your property will be distributed after you die. The executor will be responsible for managing your assets, and the transfer of those assets to your beneficiaries. You can include information about your life insurance proceeds in your will. It is important to understand the different features of life insurance.
- Living Trust
The revocable trust and the irrevocable trust are both types of living trust. You can designate part of your assets for your trustee to take special care of while you’re still alive. An irrevocable trust, on the other hand, is a legal document that cannot be changed or revoked. A living trust has the benefit of bypassing probate proceedings if you die.
- Healthcare Directive
You may find yourself unable to make decisions about your health care due to an incapacity. You can designate someone trusted to make medical decisions on your behalf in your estate plan.
- Financial Power of Attorney
A financial power of attorney is similar to the previous directive. It gives a person permission for them to manage and handle your finances if you are unable to. A durable power of attorney is a type of directive that is only valid until the time of your death.
Check out this article to learn more about California estate planning.
Ready for Estate Planning?
After you have completed our estate planning checklist, your next step should be to look for a useful one. A checklist for estate planning will help you set expectations and make sure that your plan is tailored to your needs and preferences.
We know the difficulty and cost involved in preparing estate planning documents and hiring an attorney to handle the process for you. Alla Tenina Lawyers utilizes the same estate planning process as the majority of California lawyers do. We also offer flexible options for gathering the information you need, whether it’s a one-on-one interview or a printable worksheet. You will receive all the help you need in filing estate tax returns. Contact us today at (213) 596-0265 to begin planning. We will guide you through the entire process and save you hundreds of dollars on your estate planning.
