When Should I Update My Will?
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Pa Last Wills
Pa Estate Planning – Intro – 1
Pa Estate Planning – Intro – 1
An attorney who specializes in Pa Estate Planning can help you create a complete plan to protect your spouse and children if you become unable to manage your financial affairs. Pa Estate Planning allows you to make decisions now so your wishes can be carried out if you die or become incapacitated.
Pa Estate Planning – Intro – Planning Ahead is Important
For the average person, all of these documents can seem confusing and a bit overwhelming. Pa Estate Planning attorney John B. Whalen, Jr. Esq. can help you decide which documents you need and how best to plan ahead so that your wishes are carried out.
Contest Fathers Will?
Can I contest my fathers will, he left all of his assets to charity?
My father recently died at the age of 94. My niece has been the power of attorney and now the executor of his will. She told me he left all his assets including the proceeds from sale of his property when it sells to St Judes and nothing to me or my sister. He died in Pennsylvania and thats where the will is filed. The house is located in Maryland. I live in Florida.
Pa Executors and Duties
A Pa Executor has many responsibilities.
- Probating the Pa Will
- Providing various mandated court filings
- Obtaining an Estate E.I.N. number
- Preserving the Estate’s assets
- Satisfying the Estate’s creditors
- Notifying Beneficiaries and Heirs
- Filing the Decedent’s final Income Tax returns
- Filing the Estate’s Inheritance and/or Estate Tax Returns
- Filing the Estate’s Fiduciary Income Tax returns
- Providing an accounting of all of the estate items
- Distributing the assets to the beneficiaries (Will) or heirs (no Will)
Choose your Executor with extreme care
- Be aware of your Executor’s traits
- Be aware of the Estate’s Fiduciary Income Tax returns
- Be aware of the Decedent’s final Income Tax returns
As an Executor, please be aware that
- You can be held personally liable for unpaid taxes
- You should be careful of the advice you receive and what you hear
- You should ensure that the Income Tax returns were filed in your Estate
- With all of the recent talk of the Estate Tax, the Income Tax side is as vital
[bctt tweet=”Choose Your Pa Executor under your Pa Last Will with care.”]
Pa Last Wills and Taxes
Be aware that Wills and Probate are extremely tax intensive.
It will begin with Estate Planning
It will continue with the Will’s vital tax clause
It will impact the client’s Asset Titles
It will extend through Probate
It will impact the beneficiaries tax obligations
It may resolve through the Estate Administration
It can extend far beyond the Estate’s conclusion
Extremely likely is the fact that the tax returns required in Pa are
The Pa Inheritance Tax Return
The Federal Estate Tax Return (depending)
The Decedent’s final Federal Income Tax Return
The Decedent’s final Pennsylvania Income Tax Return
The Estate’s Federal Fiduciary Income Tax Return(s)
The Estate’s Pennsylvania Income Tax Return(s)
Pa Estate Documents – Summary
An attorney who specializes in estate planning can help you create a complete plan to protect your spouse and children if you become unable to manage your financial affairs. Estate planning allows you to make decisions now so your wishes can be carried out if you die or become incapacitated.
Pa Power of Attorney
When you execute a legal document called a power of attorney, you are authorizing another individual to make certain decisions on your behalf. The person who signs the document is called the principal and the person who is authorized to make decisions is known as the agent or attorney-in-fact.
A limited power of attorney restricts the permissible activities of the agent to a specific period of time. For instance, if you are in the military and are being deployed overseas for six months, you can set up a limited power of attorney with an individual you trust. That person may be granted access to your bank account so they can pay your mortgage or other monthly expenses while you are away from home.
A durable power of attorney, unlike other forms of this type of legal document, does not expire if the principal becomes incapacitated. The agent may continue to make financial and medical decisions as indicated in the original document.
Pa Living Will
Living wills are also referred to as an “Advance Directive For Health Care.” It is a legal document that communicates your desire in the treatment of serious medical problems in the event that you are unable to speak for yourself. They do not go into effect unless you are incapacitated and unable to express yourself. Having Living Will can relieve your close relatives from the burden of having to make the decision about whether to remove you from life support.
Pa Trust
Trusts are legal documents that allow you to control how your assets will be allocated or managed. You are considered the grantor and the person that manages and distributes assets in the trust is known as the trustee. Individuals who receive money or other assets are the beneficiaries.
Property placed in a trust, unlike wills, is not subject to probate. You can also create a revocable trust which can be canceled or revoked at any time while you are alive. Trusts can be set up for a child’s education or to reduce estate taxes.
Pa Last Will
A Last Will is an important document to execute in order to avoid disputes about how your assets will be divided when you die. The executor who administers the distribution of assets from your estate will allocate your possessions as you specified. You should periodically review your Will to make sure it is still relevant and accurate. Life changing events, such as the birth of a child or a marriage, may require amendments to the original document.
If you die without a will, you are said to die intestate. In such a case, the state will handle your estate and your assets may not get to the people, institutions or charitable causes that you wanted.
Planning Ahead is Important
For the average person, all of these documents can seem confusing and a bit overwhelming. Estate planning attorney John B. Whalen, Jr. can help you decide which documents you need and how best to plan ahead so that your wishes are carried out.