Sinclair Prosser Gasior

Annapolis Estate Planning Attorneys

Call Now: (410) 573-4818

Home / General / Understanding Your Estate Planning Documents

Understanding Your Estate Planning Documents

by

“Understanding Your Estate Planning Documents” by Attorney Laura Curry (Audio)

Occasionally, as time passes, you may have forgotten or become confused about what each estate planning document you put in place does and when to use it. Your comprehensive estate plan may include a financial power of attorney, health care power of attorney, HIPAA authorization, living will (sometimes referred to as an advanced directive), revocable living trust, and last will and testament. Let’s review how each of these documents supports you during your life and after your death.

Several of your estate planning documents’ aim to assist during your lifetime.

  • A Financial Power of Attorney is where you name a person, or people to assist you with managing assets in your name while you are alive, but unable to manage them yourself.
  • A Health Care of Power of Attorney is where you name a person, or people to make healthcare decisions for you if unable to make those decisions for yourself.
  • A HIPAA Authorization is where you grant permission under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act for your healthcare providers to speak to certain people you choose about your healthcare information.
  • A Living Will allows you to make end-of-life decisions in advance should you find yourself in a terminal condition, persistent vegetative state, or end-stage condition with no reasonable expectation of recovery.

The document that supports you during both your life and upon your death is your revocable living trust. When you created your trust you retitled certain assets and accounts into the name of your trust, thereby funding your trust. Your trust assists you in avoiding public, costly, and time-consuming court proceedings such as financial and medical guardianship during your life and probate after your death. Upon your death, the terms of your trust will ensure your assets go to the beneficiaries you name in your trust document without going through probate.

The document that supports you following your death is your last will and testament. This document is an instruction to the probate court as to what you want to have happen to your assets when you die and who you want in charge of making that happen. Even if you have a trust, you will still have a “pour-over will.” The only beneficiary of your pour-over will is your trust, making sure that if you have an asset that is not retitled into the name of your trust or does not have a designated beneficiary, that asset will be poured into your trust, and will be distributed to the beneficiaries you have named in your trust.

If you are a client of Sinclair Prosser Gasior, and you would like a more detailed review of your documents, please contact us to set up your recommended complimentary client review, especially if it has been more than three years since your last meeting.

If you are not a current client of Sinclair Prosser Gasior, and you want to learn more about the above-mentioned legal documents, please attend one of our educational seminars or webinars. We offer a complimentary consultation to all seminar and webinar participants.

Sinclair Prosser Gasior
Latest posts by Sinclair Prosser Gasior (see all)