Estate planning is vital to ensuring that your assets are passed to your loved ones in an organized manner. When you work with us at Owens Penrod, P.A. to do that, you help make a difficult future time for your loved ones a little bit easier. They'll know your wishes when you pass away, and with a proper estate plan, probate can be entirely avoided.

As you consider what you want and need for estate planning, you want to look at more than just making a will. There are also durable power of attorney documents to create, along with a living will. You may want to establish a trust or a lady bird deed, and there are some cases where you can employ strategies to avoid probate, as well.

Working with a trusted estate planning attorney is the right way to make sure you're protecting yourself, your assets, and your loved ones for the future.

Wills are some of the most common estate planning documents. They make it clear where you want your assets to go when you pass away, so the people you care about get the items you want them to have. That can be real estate, vehicles, clothing, knickknacks, or even grandma's recipes.

A durable power of attorney should also be part of your estate planning, as it gives a trusted loved one the option to make financial decisions for you. Make sure you choose someone you fully trust, as they can buy and sell property, spend money, and make legal decisions on your behalf. This could put you at risk if you choose the wrong person.

Living wills are similar in that they give someone else power over decisions for you. In this case, though, the decisions are medical. You can decide whether you want life-saving measures and what specific support you'd like if you have a major medical event that requires a ventilator or other help to remain alive.

A trust is another kind of estate planning document. While it's not needed for everyone, it's something that can be very beneficial if you have young children, a disabled family member, or someone else you want to leave money to with stipulations. Trusts can be used to control and protect how the money in them is spent or distributed, which can pay for a person's care or help save money for a minor to have when they're old enough.

You can also work with us at Owens Penrod, P.A. to create a lady bird deed. This is also often called an enhanced life estate or beneficiary deed and means you can stay in your current property until you pass away, at which point the deed transfers to the person you've designated. It's a way to avoid probate for the property, because the ownership of the house will automatically go to the designated person when you pass away but you control the property fully and can sell or mortgage the property at any time during your lifetime. 

If you're looking for an estate planning attorney who's located in the Keystone Heights, Middleburg, or Tallahassee, FL areas, and who can serve clients from coast to coast, reach out to us at Owens Penrod, P.A. today, for the help you need.