A: Estate planning is planning for your future, whether you live too long or when you die. It involves preparing your last will, living trust, power of attorney and advanced directives.

A: You must know your natural heirs, what you own and to whom you want to leave your estate.

A: If you die without a will, the state will direct how your property will be distributed. All jointly owned property will go to the surviving joint owner. All property owned just in your name alone will, after your death, be probated, with one-third going to your spouse, if you have one, and two-thirds going to your children, if you have any. If you have no spouse and no children, everything goes to your parents, if they are alive; if they are not alive, everything goes to your brothers and sisters, if they are alive; if they are not alive, everything goes to their children. In addition to the other expenses your estate will incur in probate, your administrator will have to post a bond to serve. This is an additional expense you can avoid with a will.

A: You should consider a living trust as a way to protect your estate if you live too long and to transfer your estate at the time of your death without the expense or time of probate. If you live too long, become incompetent and are not able to manage your assets, you have named a person to handle your assets for your benefit until you die. By doing this, you avoid the expense of setting up a guardianship.

A: If your estate is larger than $50,000 then we would strongly encourage you to consider a trust. One of the main benefits is to avoid probate expenses at your death. However, a secondary benefit of a trust is to avoid guardianship proceedings later in life.

A: Yes. Your will will serve as a safety net. It will catch anything that you do not get put into your trust during your lifetime and will pour it over into your trust after your death. A will can also provide for the guardian of your minor children should you die while you have minor children.

A: We recommend that you put all of your property and estate in your trust except for retirement benefits. If you are married your spouse should be the primary beneficiary of your retirement benefits and the trust should be the secondary beneficiary.

A: A power of attorney is an excellent document; however, it cuts with a two-edged sword. The word attorney originally meant someone who represented you or stood in your place. When you give someone your power of attorney, that person has the power to act for you. A durable power of attorney gives someone the power to act in your place even if you become incapacitated. Our firm tells clients that if you give someone your power of attorney and that person gets mad at you, you need to revoke the power of attorney or that person can sell all of your assets and do with the proceeds whatever that person chooses.

A: Advanced directives are documents that you sign ahead of time, giving instruction for future occurrences. They include health care proxies and living wills. Health care proxies name someone to make health care decisions for you if you are not able to make them yourself. A living will is your statement that in the event that there is no hope of your recovery, you do not want to be kept alive by artificial life support.

A: We discourage our clients from putting their children's names on their bank accounts or title to their property. Anything with your child's name on it, even if it originally belonged to you, is subject to the creditors of your child. If you have placed your child's name on your account, at your death that account belongs to that child. In order for that child to transfer part of that account to his or her siblings, that child must make a gift and could possibly use up part of his or her unified credit or have to pay a gift tax.