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Lake in the Hills, Illinois

Estate Planning Attorneys

If you have a family or a small business, you want to keep them protected – even after you’re gone.

Working with a Lake in the Hills, Illinois estate planning attorney allows you to build a plan for your family and your assets ahead of time, so that there’s no confusion about your wishes or difficulty following through with them.

At Diamond Estate Planning, we help families across Illinois set up estate plans. Here’s why setting up an estate plan is important – no matter what you’re dealing with.

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Why is Estate Planning important?

Besides giving your family a roadmap of what to do and how to do it, estate planning can usually prevent your estate from entering a lengthy probate process.

Without clear direction on who you want to take care of your kids and what to do with your assets, a judge will try to guess what you wanted and what is in the best interests of your loved ones.

It’s important to note that an estate plan doesn’t just ensure your assets go where you want them to – but that they don’t end up where you don’t want them to be.

That’s why it is imperative to contact our team of estate planning attorneys at Diamond Estate Planning today.

What should a Lake in the Hills, Illinois estate plan include?

A comprehensive estate plan that is customized for your specific family needs should include:
  • A simple and easy to read map of all your major assets, and how they are titled
  • A summary of the people you give powers to if something happens to you
  • The names of your beneficiary (or beneficiaries)
  • Your powers of attorney
  • Your advanced directives (for medical care)
  • Your burial wishes,
  • Trusts you have set up and/or annuities

Below, we discuss each of these elements of estate planning in more detail.

Lake in the Hills Estate Planning Services

At Diamond Estate Planning, we take the time to understand your unique situation and guide you through the process, every step of the way. Our services include:

Advance Directive, also known as a Living Will

A living will is a document that tells your healthcare provider (or hospital) your end-of-life medical care if you become unable to communicate. For example, a living will clarifies whether  you want to be on life support, etc.

Asset Protection

A good estate plan and organizing everything in a good trust can protect assets from family disputes.

Estate Planning Resources For Professionals

As a professional, you have a lot of personal exposure because of the possibility of malpractice claims. For many professional licenses, you can never get rid of your liability for negligence or malpractice. If you have a claim that is either declined by your professional malpractice insurance or that exceeds the limits, a good estate plan can protect your assets. Things like a land trust with a bank or title company can keep your name out of the public records for your home.

Trusts

We create trusts that avoid probate (the process of your family going to court after you die). Our trusts clearly explain your wishes to your family and set up protections for minor children and family members on government assistance. Trusts can also direct your family to make charitable donations to causes you care about. Additionally, a trust can make sure specific items (like your grandmother’s wedding ring, a Gutenberg bible, your grandfather’s flag, the vintage Mustang) go to who you want to have them. A trust can spell out your wishes regarding who you want to take care of your children, and even your wishes for your pets. (Because we want to help you make sure Rover still gets his rubber Wall Street Journal every morning!)

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Wills

Wills spell out your wishes to your family. Like trusts, wills can make clear who you want to inherit what, as well as explaining your wishes for your children and your pets. Unlike trusts, however, your family still has to go to court after you die to access your money and distribute your property the way you wanted them to. Your will also becomes public record, whereas a trust does not.

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Wealth Preservation

Diamond Estate Planning can help with wealth preservation by making sure that when someone dies or becomes disabled, proper contingencies are in place. That way, you can control what will happen to your wealth and avoid possible loss or unnecessary legal expenses.

Power of Attorneys (POAs)

A power of attorney designates a person you trust to make health care or financial decisions for you if you can’t do them yourself. You also designate additional, backup people to step in if you first choice is unavailable. There are multiple types of POAs.

  • Health Care Power of Attorney: Spells out your wishes for your medical care, and end-of-life wishes in particular.
  • Power of Attorney for Property: Designates a person or people who can take care of your possessions, financial affairs, and real estate for you, if needed. This avoids needing a guardanship if you are temporarily incapacitated or disabled. Your power of attorney can conduct your affairs for you (write checks, pay bills, buy or sell real estate, etc.)

It’s important to note that these arrangements only work when you are alive. If you are your grandmother’s power of attorney and she passes away, you cannot do anything with her property (bank accounts, investment accounts and real estate) without either probating an estate or using a trust that she set up when she was alive.

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Health care power of attorney for minor children

Parents can set up a health care power of attorney for their children, giving someone other than themselves permission to take the child to the doctor or emergency room. One example could be if you are out of town for a long weekend or a long vacation without your child, or if your child is with a babysitter and you cannot get to the hospital or doctor to get them prompt treatment.

Call a Lake in the Hills Estate Planning lawyer today

Diamond Estate Planning in McHenry has been helping Illinois families plan their legacies for decades, and we’re ready to get to work for yours next. Call (779) 704-5738 today to talk to one of our team members.

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