Will-Based Estate Planning Package
Estate planning is all about you — the person who’s in charge of your property now, and also in charge of those who’ll control your property and receive it in the future. It’s your strategy for managing your assets and healthcare decisions during your lifetime and ensuring the orderly distribution of your assets after your passing.
When we work with you to create your estate plan, we start with the basics.
We first address lifetime protections for you, such as:
- who can help you handle business and financial matters and when;
- who’ll make medical decisions on your behalf if you become incapable of making them for yourself;
- what you want your physician to do if you become terminally ill; and,
- who among trusted people may have access to your medical records.
You’re in complete control of making those lifetime protection choices now.
You’re also in control of addressing what you want to happen to your assets at the time of your death. With your input, our objectives include safeguarding what you own, making sure your loved ones are taken care of, ensuring your assets are distributed smoothly, and avoiding complications with expensive legal processes.
A will is the cornerstone of a basic estate plan. Our Will-Based Estate Plan Package has five fundamental components:
1. Last Will & Testament
A Will, often called a Last Will and Testament, is the legal document that contains your instructions about the distribution of your property after your death. It usually names a guardian for your minor children. It also designates an executor to manage your estate in line with your final wishes.
2. General Durable Power of Attorney
An important element of an estate plan is a General Durable Power of Attorney. This legal document permits you to name one of more agents to handle business, financial and legal matters on your behalf, if for any reason you’re not able to handle them yourself. It does not allow those agents to make medical decisions on your behalf.
A durable power of attorney remains in effect if you become incapacitated or disabled; its authority continues until the time of your death.
3. Medical Power of Attorney
A Medical Power of Attorney is a legal document that permits you to appoint a trusted person or persons to make medical decisions on your behalf if you become unconscious or mentally incapable of making those decisions for yourself.
4. Directive to Physicians
A Directive to Physicians, or Advance Directive, is a legal document that permits you to instruct your physicians not to use artificial methods to extend your life in the event you are diagnosed with a terminal or irreversible condition and are unable to communicate those instructions yourself. In almost all situations, medical professionals are legally required to adhere to the instructions in a directive to physicians if the patient can no longer express their own preferences.
5. HIPAA Authorization
A HIPAA Authorization permits you to name one or more individuals who may have access to your medical information so your health care provider or insurance company will have no reservations about sharing your protected medical information. This document gives medical providers your permission to release your private healthcare information to your named healthcare agents and family members in the event of your illness or injury.
An attorney at Reagan Moore can describe in detail our Will-Based Estate Planning Package, and how we can create one for you or someone you know. Our Texas-based, fully-virtual law firm offers premium estate planning services in all 254 Texas counties. Our unique business model is built to deliver excellent, personalized service to every client at reasonable flat fees. You can count on our experienced lawyers to listen first, then present you options. Let’s collaborate and design the ideal plan for you.