It’s time to figure out what to do with your assets, investments, and other important assets once you’ve passed on. You do not want your family and friends to fight over the ownership of assets left after your death. This is where you need to have a will with complete detail about beneficiary/beneficiaries and their stakes in your property.
You can take help from a real estate attorney to help you with wills, advance directives, trusts, power of attorney, and a complete real estate plan. If you are looking to draft a will or estate plan for yourself, then here are five basic steps that you need to know about.
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1. Create A Legal Proof of Your Will
You need to have your will notarized. This is needed as proof of the existence of the will that you’ve created. Notarizing a document is simple by using a notary, but other family members can also witness the will and sign it if you choose to have them sign it as witnesses.
Ensure that any legal documents you have in a place like wills, trusts, power of attorney papers, everything is up-to-date and complies with the law where you live.
2. Create Your Own Estate Plan
This plan will give instructions on how you want your assets and other property disposed of after your passing or what should be done with them if you’ve already passed on. Therefore, creating an easy-to-understand, articulate, and actionable estate plan form is good.
Take inventory of your financial and household affairs so that loved ones can easily take care of all your affairs without going through unnecessary troubles. It is one of the essential estate planning steps in North Carolina. It might be helpful to hire an estate-planning attorney.
3. Keep Your Plan Up-to-Date
Keeping estate your plan up to date is vital because the laws change with time, and it’s crucial to keep yourself abreast of what is happening and what you need to change in your will. Changes can be made by modifying old documents or writing new ones entirely. The changes may not be significant but need to be done properly so that when the time comes, all goes well without any issues or problems.
4. Discuss Your Plans With Loved Ones
It’s important to discuss your plans with your loved ones. Make them aware of their roles and responsibilities if you’ve already passed on. For example, talk about how you want to distribute your property and assets after your death. This can help avoid family conflicts after your death because they will know their part already and don’t have to wait about finding a beneficiary.
5. Keep Important Documents in a Safe Place
You must keep these documents in a safe place so that you don’t need to worry about where they are when it’s time to be used. Also, you can have your executor and executrix have this information to help you with your estate plan.
An estate plan is one of the best things you can do to take care of your loved ones after your death. Planning around your assets and ways on how you want to handle business when you’re gone can help your loved ones to be prepared for the aftermath of your death.
