Be Prepared
Estate Planning Attorney for Greenville, SC
Maybe you’ve been thinking about the end of your life. After all, it’s important to consider especially when you have a family or other people you care about. If you have been thinking about the future, now is the time to contact an estate planning attorney.
Chuck Crews offers estate-planning services in Greenville, SC. When you’ve decided that now is the time to start to write a will, make a trust, or fill out an advanced care directive, choose to work with us.
WHAT IS ESTATE PLANNING
To most, estate planning is the process of planning for the transfer of a person’s wealth and assets after his or her death. At Crews Law, our estate planning attorneys include planning for the care of our clients who may be unable to care for themselves later in life. We believe an estate plan includes documents to transfer assets at death, financial powers of attorney to allow the management of financial affairs during periods of incapacitation, and health care directives to allow your family to manage medical care. At Crews Law, our estate planning services can help you understand the many different aspects and options in estate planning law and guide you through all the decisions you must make in planning your estate. Our goal for every client is the peace of mind that comes with knowing you have a plan in place to protect your family. We can’t always control what happens to us, but we CAN control our preparation for life’s twists and turns. Have you “checked off” the items on the following checklist? If not, call us today for a free consultation.
One great reason to start your estate planning now is if you’ve just started a family. Whether that’s getting married or having your first child, an estate-planning attorney can help you decide what works best for you. Another reason to plan your estate is if you’ve just acquired assets like property or money.
Additionally, you may have heard about estate planning before, but you may have thought that it wasn’t something you needed to do right away. The truth is, now is the perfect time to start planning your estate. And from wills to health care directives, Crews Law Offices’ estate planning services can help you make a plan that you can feel safe with.
One thing we like to offer to our potential clients is a free initial consultation. During the first moments together, you can get a feel for how we work and whether we’ll work well together. We are passionate about the job we do, and we’re always striving to improve.
Chuck Crews has been serving clients since 1991, so you can trust him to get the job done right and in a timely manner. We know that time may be of the essence, so we make sure to keep communications open and friendly.
Call us today to get started with your estate plan.
Checklist
Crews Law Offices is licensed to provide estate planning services in the states of South Carolina and Georgia. Our office is in Simpsonville, South Carolina, and we offer free initial consultations. Start on your estate planning by looking through our estate planning checklist below, then schedule a consultation.
In a will, you state who you want to inherit your property and name a guardian to care for your young children should something happen to you and the other parent.
If you hold your property in a living trust, your survivors won’t have to go through probate court, a time-consuming and expensive process.
Writing out your wishes for health care can protect you if you become unable to make medical decisions for yourself. Health care directives include a health care declaration (“living will”) and a power of attorney for health care, which gives someone you choose the power to make decisions if you can’t.
With a durable power of attorney, you can give a trusted person authority to handle your finances and property if you become incapacitated and unable to handle your own affairs. The person you name to handle your finances is called your agent or attorney-in-fact (but doesn’t have to be an attorney).
You should name an adult to manage any money and property your minor children may inherit from you, called a trustee. In fact, you can even establish the age when your children will receive their inheritance from the trustee.
Naming a beneficiary for bank accounts and retirement plans makes the account automatically “payable on death” to your beneficiary and allows the funds to skip the probate process. Likewise, in almost all states, you can register your stocks, bonds, or brokerage accounts to transfer to your beneficiary upon your death.
Life insurance can provide income replacement to your family if you die prematurely.
There are various ways to accomplish this step. Sparing your family from having to make these types of decisions during the period immediately following your death will help them tremendously.
If you’re the sole owner of a business, you should have a succession plan. If you own a business with others, you should have a buyout agreement.
Your estate planning documents need to be easily found when they are needed. Find a safe place to store them and make sure your trusted agents know where to find them.
