Secure Your Legacy with Personalized Estate Planning Services in Downers Grove, IL
At Family, Wealth & Legacy Legal Solutions, we are proud to extend our skillful estate planning services to clients in Downers Grove, Illinois. While we may not have a physical office in Downers Grove, our commitment to providing comprehensive and personalized estate planning remains steadfast. Our team is dedicated to safeguarding your legacy and ensuring that your wishes are respected, with a keen understanding of the unique needs of Downers Grove residents.
Why Is Estate Planning Important for Residents of Downers Grove, IL?
For those living in Downers Grove, estate planning is vital. It ensures your assets are distributed as you wish after your death, protecting your beneficiaries from unnecessary legal complexities. Estate planning is crucial for minimizing estate and death taxes, avoiding the probate court process, and preventing family disputes over inheritance. It enables quicker and more private asset distribution. Importantly, a comprehensive estate plan includes provisions for personal and medical care if you become incapacitated. At Family, Wealth & Legacy Legal Solutions, we believe that estate planning is an indispensable step for Downers Grove residents to secure their legacy and uphold their wishes.
Ready to get started? Book a call with our law office now.
Our Customized Estate Planning Process for Downers Grove Residents
Our process for working with clients on estate planning is detailed and personalized, reflecting our commitment to exceed the traditional expectations of legal services.
Our firm uses a four meeting process for comprehensive estate planning:
- Educational Strategy Session: Beginning with a comprehensive two-hour educational strategy session, we ensure that every client is fully informed and empowered to make decisions about their estate plan.
- Design Meeting: We work with you closely to tailor your plan to fit your unique family dynamics and future aspirations.
- Signing Meeting: At the signing meeting, we finalize the documents, making your estate plan official.
- Binder Delivery and Legacy Interview Meeting: During this last meeting, we deliver a customized binder and host a legacy interview meeting, during which we film you sharing your values, expectations for wealth management, and wishes for your family, ensuring your legacy and values are captured exactly as you intend for future generations.
Unlike traditional firms, we establish a lifelong relationship with our clients through follow-up meetings every three years, free of charge, to ensure your estate plan evolves with your life circumstances. We also facilitate family meetings to explain the plan to your family members, ensuring they understand and appreciate your intentions and the provisions made for them.
Key Estate Planning Tools for Downers Grove, Illinois Residents
Wills Are a Popular Estate Planning Tool
A will is limited in asset protection and control. Here are some facts about wills that you may not know. A will is subject to probate when you pass away and the probate court must validate it before it can be enforced. It is only enforceable after you die.
The court ensures that your debts are paid and your assets are distributed according to a valid will’s instructions in the legal process of probate. People want to avoid probate because the process can be expensive with legal and executor fees and other costs paid first before heirs receive their distribution. Assets are often frozen while the probate process takes an average of nine months to two years to complete. Your family is exposed to a public process in which “interested parties” can see the assets involved.
Additional Legal Documents Are Required for Protection in Times of Incapacity
Importantly, a will doesn’t protect you if you are incapacitated physically or mentally. You must be deceased to enforce a will, opening the door for a court to take control of your assets before you die. Only court appointees in the form of conservators or guardians can sign for you if you are unable to conduct business or manage your assets because of dementia, stroke, heart attack, or other incapacity. A court appointee overseeing your finances during your incapacitation must obtain court approval of all expenses, keep detailed records, reports to court, and frequently posts bond.
You can name a person to manage your finances or medical care with a power of attorney, but these documents can introduce additional risks. Financial institutions may require additional forms or the appointed agent may misuse your assets or make medical decisions incongruent with your wishes. There are plan options that offer more protection and control.
Is A Loved-One Incapacitated? Book a call with our law office now to get your legal documents squared away.
Plan Ahead with a Living Trust for Asset Protection and Ease of Distribution
A living trust is a legal document encompassing your instructions and wants for your assets when you pass away. Living trusts transfer assets from your name to the name of your trust and provide protection while you are living. You control your trust that owns your assets, avoiding court involvement in probate or if you are incapacitated.
- Avoid probate at death, even if you own property in other states
- Prevent court control of assets at incapacity
- Provide maximum privacy
- Distribute assets to beneficiaries quicker
- Decide how long assets remain in trust and when beneficiaries inherit
- Reduce or eliminate estate taxes
- Spend less time creating and maintaining documents
- Make changes or cancel at any time
- Reduce or eliminate will contests
- Avert court control of minors’ inheritances
- Protect your dependents with special needs
- Protect loved ones from being disinherited and assets with joint ownership
- Choose a corporate or personal trustee to manage the trust after you pass
- Ease your mind
Be Proactive
We help families avoid life’s most common legal problems: Death, Disability and Divorce.
Estate planning is a journey that demands skilled guidance and personalized attention, especially for Downers Grove residents. Family, Wealth & Legacy Legal Solutions is dedicated to offering the best legal support to ensure your estate planning is comprehensive, effective, and tailored to your unique situation, even without a physical office in Downers Grove. Book a call today to begin the process of securing your legacy.