Reno Estate Planning Attorney

Updating Powers of Attorney or Healthcare Directives

Healthcare directives and powers of attorney should be revisited regularly to ensure that your most recent choices are reflected. This helps to solidify the likelihood of your wishes being honored after death or incapacitation. The American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging establishes the 5 D’s as signifiers to update your estate plan:

• Decade – at the start of each new decade in life
• Death – when a loved one or beneficiary dies
• Divorce – when you go through a divorce or other significant family change
• Diagnosis – when you receive a new serious medical diagnosis
• Decline – when you experience a significant negative shift in your health or condition

Once you update your documents, you should ensure that all relevant parties have updated copies of your estate planning documents.

Protecting Your Pet in Your Estate Plan

You can use your estate plan to secure your pet’s future after your death. Including your pet in your estate plan allows you to control who will take custody of your pet and whether that person has the financial means to provide for your pet. In an estate plan, you can create a pet trust. A pet trust is a legal entity that holds financial assets on behalf of your pet for the purpose of their care after upon activation. While your pet can not be named a beneficiary, or trustee, to the pet trust, you can elect a person to inherit the trust with the stipulation that the money is used to care for your pet. In addition to a pet trust, you can include requests for how your pet will be cared for, including healthcare and other stipulations, following your death.

Selecting Burial or Cremation in Nevada

In addition to decisions regarding asset distribution and medical directives, you should designate your preferences for burial or cremation. Because a will is often found after the handling of your remains, it is wise to make preferences known to applicable parties ahead of time. Planning and paying for a funeral in advance alleviates some stress from grieving loved ones. Signing a Burial and Cremation Affidavit that authorizes an executor or otherwise specified person to order your burial or cremation.

What Happens if You Die Without an Estate Plan?

If you die without a will or estate plan in Nevada, your assets are distributed to your relatives under intestate succession laws. Dying intestate, or without a valid will or estate plan, complicates the probate process. Without a will in place, you surrender the right to have your voice heard regarding the handling of your estate and the designation of your beneficiaries. If you have preferences regarding whom your assets should be distributed to, stipulations surrounding the use of your assets, or preferences for the care of dependent children or pets, an estate plan is crucial. Additionally, estate planning allows you to dictate your wishes regarding medical treatment or define powers of attorney in the event of incapacitation. If you become incapacitated without contingent designations in place, you forgo your right to choose who will make decisions on your behalf.

Nevada Intestate Succession Laws

Intestate succession laws, or inheritance laws, apply when a Nevada resident dies without a will. This excludes any assets for which you have already named a beneficiary. Assets that typically have beneficiary designations in advance are:

• Life insurance policies
• Retirement accounts
• Property in a living trust or trust
• Accounts with transfer-on-death designations
• Jointly owned property
• Assets with a transfer-on-death designation

The remainder of your assets will be distributed according to intestate succession laws. Because of the lack of specific instruction, these assets will likely go through a lengthy probate process. Nevada is a community property state, meaning that your spouse shares joint ownership of assets acquired after marriage. If you die intestate without children but married, your spouse inherits your entire remaining estate. If you die intestate with children and married, your spouse will inherit the community property and half of the separate property (assets acquired prior to marriage) in your estate, leaving the remainder of the separate property to be divided amongst your children. In order for a partner or child to inherit your estate, they must be legally recognized.

Do I Need an Estate Planning Attorney?

People with any amount of assets can benefit from working with an estate planning attorney. If you own property, have a checking or savings account, have children or loved ones you want to designate property to, or have preferences regarding medical directives or powers of attorney, you need an estate plan. For long-term unmarried couples, an estate plan ensures that assets are distributed to your surviving partner, and that they have the power to make financial or medical decisions if you become incapacitated. An estate planning attorney with Surratt Law Practice is well versed in the technical side of the estate planning process and can guide you through making the important decisions. We can help you draft critical estate planning documents in accordance with Nevada statutes.

For a compassionate estate planning attorney who puts your family first, call Surratt Law Practice at: +1(775) 924-1306.