What Is Estate Planning?

You can save your loved ones a lot of money and frustration by devising a plan for the management of your health care and property if you become severely disabled or pass away.

A Washington estate planning attorney can help you with:

• Advance health care directives telling how you want your health care managed if you ever become too ill to speak for yourself
• Powers of attorney appointing someone to manage your property and sign legal papers for you if you become unable to take care of your own affairs
• Wills and probate that transfer your property to selected beneficiaries upon your death
• Trusts that provide for the care of children or disabled persons, minimize taxes or protect against creditors
• Ways to avoid probate that transfer property at death - insurance, gifts, joint ownership of property, bank accounts
• Medicaid eligibility planning

Advance Directives

An advance directive is a legal document giving instructions about the medical treatment and care you want to receive if you later become incapacitated. Advance directives in Washington include the following parts:

• Medical Power of Attorney: You can select someone, such as a close friend or family member, to be your health care agent. Your health care agent then has the authority to make health care decisions for you if you ever become too ill to make these decisions for yourself
• Health Care Directive (Living Will): You can indicate whether you want to receive life support, like artificial respiration or feeding tubes, if you have a terminal condition and are near death or are in a permanent coma

You must be at least 18 years old to make a valid advance directive. You must sign and date your health care directive in front of two witnesses over age 18. The witness can't be related to you, entitled to inherit from you, have a claim against your estate, or be your doctor or your doctor's employee or an employee of a health facility where you're a patient.

Powers of Attorney

In Washington, you can sign a durable power of attorney to appoint someone to handle your assets if you become severely disabled. A power of attorney should include the power to:

• Manage and transfer all assets
• Deal with the IRS
• Make gifts on your behalf
• Create and amend any trusts you set up

You don't need to transfer any assets when you sign a power of attorney. It's a good idea to keep the person you've chosen informed about your ongoing financial matters.

Making a Will

In Washington, you can make a valid will if you're at least 18 years old and of sound mind. Your will must be in writing, be dated  and be signed by you or by someone who signs for you at your direction in your presence. Two adults, who aren’t beneficiaries of your will, must sign your will in your presence as witnesses after seeing you sign the document.

In the will you can:

• Distribute your property
• Select a guardian for your minor children
• Name an executor or personal representative to manage the probate of your will and the distribution of your property after your death.

You can change your will by making a new will that replaces or revokes the old one or by making an addition to the will, called a codicil. Changes such as a marriage, divorce, birth or adoption of a child, new property ownership or moving to another state should cause you to review your will and consider whether it should be changed to fit your new situation.

A Washington lawyer who does estate planning can explain the consequences of some of the most basic choices you must make in writing your will. Your lawyer will also help you comply with the legal formalities required to have a valid will. It makes sense to have an estate planning lawyer draft your will so you avoid costly mistakes and achieve your intended results.

Related Resources on Lawyers.com^sm

- Contact an Estate Planning Law Lawyer in your area for specific legal advice, and read about Trusts & Estates: Selecting a Good Lawyer
- Need a form? Access hundreds of Personal Legal Forms, including an Living Will, Power of Attorney and Last Will & Testament
- Read Trust Basics, Gloria Allred Wills & Estate Planning Tips and other Estate Planning articles and information
- Legal Dictionary
- Visit the Legal Forums for discussions on Estates, Wills & Probate topics