Estate Planning and Protecting Your Finances

Our Pocatello Estate Planning Lawyers know that most people are more concerned about their money and finances while they are alive than they are about giving them away when they are gone. Clients that work with us know that creating a written estate plan is the best way to protect their money while they are alive. Our Attorneys in Pocatello help each unique client protect their personal finances and money so that these will be available for them personally during their own lifetime even if they later suffer a physical, and/or mental disability.

Each person’s estate is made up of all kinds of property including cash money, bank accounts, retirement accounts and other finances. We can help you customize a plan that will protect your assets and provide financial support for you during your own lifetime. Your customized plan will also allow you to give your money and property away to whoever you choose upon your death. Our Attorneys in Pocatello include a team of partners Randy Budge and Lane Erickson, and attorneys Nathan Palmer and Dave Bagley who earned the highest ratings possible from legal groups such as Martindale and Hubbell, AVVO and Justia. We are confident that we have the experience and the ability to help you protect your money and finances.

Most people believe that estate planning is only useful in helping you give your money, property and valuable things away to others after you have died. While this is true, and can be done through well-crafted Last Will and Testament, estate planning can do so much more. When you have a customized plan you are also able to protect your finances while you are alive so they will be available when you need them.

As a society we are living longer than any generation before us. Experts predict that a majority of adults will live into their 90s in coming decades. While this sounds great, living longer can also bring new problems. Living longer can increase the risks that of developing a mental or physical incapacity later in life. Until there is a cure for things such as Alzheimer’s disease, and strokes, and other illnesses, there is a chance that we could lose the ability to manage our own money and finances. Our job is to help you prepare a customized written plan so that if you become unable to care for yourself you have others who will do it for you. This can be done through a Durable Power of Attorney which is a document that should be in your customized estate plan.

While you are healthy you have the legal ability and right manage your own money and property. You are in control of your own finances, bank accounts, healthcare decisions, and managing your businesses and other areas of your life. However, if you develop an incapacity, either mental or physical, you may not be able to do these things for yourself.

By utilizing a well written Durable Power of Attorney as part of your Pocatello Estate Plan you get to decide for yourself who to name who will do these things for you. Having a Durable Power of Attorney allows you to not only decide who to appoint but also to avoid expensive and time consuming guardianship and conservatorship proceedings. The most important thing it does is eliminate family fighting or disagreeing about who should do this for you. This preserves family relationships and also saves you and your family money by eliminating needless litigation.

An additional way that Pocatello Estate Planning could help you protect and preserve your finances while you are alive is through a revocable or irrevocable trust. When you create a trust you transfer your property and other financial assets into the trust so that the trust owns them. These items are then no longer owned by you personally.

Under the terms of the trust, you can act as the Trustee and can also receive money and support from the trust through financial disbursements. You can name another person your trust to be the trustee if you ever become unable to serve. This allows you to continue to receive disbursements as you need them. Using a trust protects your finances, properties, and other valuable assets from creditors while at the same time allowing these items to continue to provide money and support to you while you are alive. A trust, like a Last Will and Testament, also allows you to decide who your money and property will go to when you die.

There are many ways that having your own customized Pocatello Estate Plan can protect your finances and help you while you are alive. The Attorneys at the Racine Law Office are here to help you and your family when you need it the most. We are available to discuss your options and answer your questions at an initial consultation. Call us toll free at 877.232.6101 or 208.232.6101 for a consultation with the Racine Olson team of attorneys in Idaho. You can also email us directly at racine@racinelaw.net. We will answer your questions and will help you solve your Pocatello Estate Planning problems.