Estate Planning Attorney in Columbus

Estate planning involves preparing legal documents to manage your assets and responsibilities during your life and after your death. It ensures that your wishes are followed, reduces family disputes, and can minimize taxes.

If your current financial situation doesn’t warrant the need for a revocable living trust, then your basic estate plan will typically include the following legal documents:

1. Last Will and Testament
2. Advance Medical Directive
3. Living Will
4. Financial Power of Attorney

Probate and estate planning can be tough. I’m here to walk you through it. Give me a call.

Choose someone trustworthy, organized, and capable of handling financial and legal matters. This person can be a family member, friend, or a professional trustee, depending on your needs and the complexity of your estate.

A will directs how your assets will be distributed after death and typically requires probate. A trust, on the other hand, can help avoid probate and offers more control over how and when assets are distributed.

Estate planning can minimize estate, inheritance, and gift taxes through strategies like gifting, creating trusts, and charitable donations.

When someone dies without a valid will, Ohio laws will decide how their property will be distributed as well as who will receive the property. Typically family members and heirs that are closely related to the deceased are favored.

Using trusts, prenuptial agreements, and proper documentation can help protect your estate from creditors and disputes. Consulting an attorney is crucial for effective protection strategies.

Review your estate plan regularly and update it after major life events such as marriage, divorce, the birth of a child, or significant financial changes.

Include advance directives like a living will and health care proxy in your estate plan. These documents outline your medical preferences and appoint someone to make decisions if you are unable to.

Common mistakes include not updating your plan, failing to plan for taxes, and not communicating your wishes. Avoid these by conducting regular reviews and seeking professional advice.

A will and death certificate need to be filed in the Probate Court in the county where the decedent lived. If there is no will, the death certificate is filed with a bond and application to administer by a family member.

Standard forms for probate need to be filed. This begins the process of appointing an executor administrator.

The Court will then issue “Letters of Authority” to the executor administrator which gives the executor administrator legal authority to act on behalf of the estate.

Within 3 months of appointment of an executor administrator , an inventory of the estate’s assets must be filed.

Creditors have 6 months from the date of death to make a claim.

Once all of the creditors and taxes (if any) have been paid, a final account (typically) needs to be filed with the court.

Lastly, the Court will issue an order, distributing the estate’s property to the beneficiaries.

Legal fees are typically paid at the end of the administration.

Some smaller estates qualify for relief from administration, you would need to call an attorney to determine if your estate qualifies or go to probate court and talk to a clerk.

Many people die without going through probate. Many times, all assets pass automatically at death. The will in that situation is a backup document in the event an asset unexpectedly does not pass automatically at death.

Executor administrators can be compensated for the responsibility, time, and effort they put in to complete the estate process. Executor fees in Ohio are typically set by statute:

4% of the first $100,000 of personal property, income, and proceeds of real estate sold;

3% of the next $300,000;

2% of the balance;

1% of the value of real estate not sold; and 1% of all property that is not subject to probate administration and that is includable for purposes of computing the Ohio estate tax, except joint and survivorship property.

The fiduciary may waive the fee. Additional fees can be awarded for extraordinary services.

Estate and inheritance taxes are taxes that are levied on people who either own property in the state where they died or inherit property from a resident of a state. Currently Ohio residents are not subject to this tax.