What is Estate planning? What is estate planning law? What is an estate planning lawyer?

In short: Estate planning involves making decisions about what happens to you, your kids, and your stuff if you are incapacitated (temporarily or long-term) or if you die.

Your “estate” is everything that you own a second before you die.

“Planning” is making decisions about what happens in advance, when you can and when you’re healthy enough to make those decisions.

“Estate planning law” involves a few different things. First, those are the laws of the state that decide what happen to you, your kids, and your stuff if you don’t decide what to do in advance. Estate planning laws are the laws that makes sure that your decisions are carried out. They control what happens in a dispute.

An estate planning lawyer helps you make the decisions about what happens to you, your kids, and your stuff; and also drafts the documents to ensure that your wishes comply with the law and are written in a way that clearly explains your decisions. An estate planning attorney often asks questions that you wouldn’t think to ask yourself – or that you would rather not ask yourself – but that help clarify your wishes.

Contact me for a complimentary consultation, where we can discuss your specific situation and talk through some of the important considerations with estate planning.