Estate Planning

While we will not be around to see the legacies we leave behind, that does not mean our legacy is out of our control. We simply have to plan ahead.

Estate planning is the art of shaping that legacy and ensuring your loved ones are cared for according to your wishes after you are gone. To do so, estate planning attorneys like Joseph Kelly will help you navigate a wide range of estate planning tools and documents to create a personalized plan fitted to your situation and goals.

Will Your Loved Ones Be Protected After You Are Gone?

At the heart of estate planning are the people involved. Even modest families are able to build up wealth over a lifetime of work and saving, whether that is a car, equity in a home, a business or life insurance policies. And everyone leaves behind someone they love; if it is not immediate family, like a spouse and children, it might be a close friend, a beloved pet, or a charitable cause you care about.

Estate planning ensures that your wealth (your combined assets and belongings) goes to those you want to receive it. It is your chance to protect your wealth as best you can, and avoid your legacy being tarnished by conflict or diminished by excessive taxation and expenses after you pass. It can also provide essential protections for you in case of incapacitation.

Is Estate Planning Relevant Before Death?

Many Mississippi families wait too long to start planning their estates because death seems so far away or too difficult to think about. But while accidents and illnesses can strike suddenly at any time, few realize that estate planning can be helpful, vital even, long before the end of life.

For example, if you are struck by a vehicle in Harrison County tomorrow, and end up needing to stay under for major surgery and take days or weeks to wake up, do you know what will happen with your affairs and assets? Who will care for your children? Who will make major medical decisions for you? What do doctors know about your preferences?

These questions and more are all answered as part of the comprehensive estate planning process, so that if you are not around for any reason, temporarily or permanently, your loved ones are protected, and your wishes secure.

What Are The Essential Estate Planning Tools For Mississippi?

When planning your legacy and protecting your loved ones, a few straightforward estate planning tools are vital:

1. Your Last Will and Testament, or just your will, lays out your wishes for the distribution of your assets and belongings after death. It can also include your preferences regarding guardianship of minor children or who should serve as executor of your will.
2. Powers of Attorney designate key individuals whom you trust to make financial or medical decisions when you are not able to do so.
3. Healthcare Directives provide instructions to doctors, surgeons, nurses and nursing home professionals about how you wish to be cared for regarding life support and other crucial questions if you are unable to communicate.

As essential as these tools are, however, they are often insufficient. A will still leaves your legacy and loved ones vulnerable to the expensive and public probate process where conflict and taxes can eat away at what you are able to leave behind.

Advanced Estate Planning Services Offer Greater Security And Protection

When you pass on, the assets held in your name need to be handled carefully under Mississippi law. To transfer things like a home you owned or a business you built into the hands of the loved ones you have designated in your will, they need to pass through Probate court.

Probate is a drawn-out legal and bureaucratic process designed to carefully ensure your assets are handled according to your will, but in doing so, it also makes your legacy vulnerable to creditors, challenges, family conflict, and public appraisal of your assets and choices.

Probate is not an inevitability, however, not even in Mississippi. It is possible to bypass the probate process by ensuring none of your assets are held exclusively in your name. Advanced estate planning tools, especially trusts, can be used to transfer assets out of your name while still maintaining full control over them, and even greater control over your legacy and how it protects your loved ones.

In Mississippi, your legacy can benefit from these tools thanks to estate planning lawyers like Joseph Kelly, but only if you reach out and get started in time.

Call To Start Planning Your Estate Today In Mississippi

With over 30 years of experience helping Mississippi families plan their estates and legacies, attorney Joseph Kelly knows how to make the legacy-building process straightforward and effective for you. But he can only help you draft your will or plan your trust if you reach out in time.

You never know what might happen tomorrow, when an accident could leave you incapacitated and your loved ones confused and upset. Start planning your estate by calling (228) 467-3400 or scheduling a consultation today.