Tips to settle affair related to wills and probate

When it comes to sorting things out in the final stages in life, both a will and probate are extremely important.  Every individual likes to settle things properly and distribute their properties and wealth among heirs before they pass away and this is where the importance of wills and probates comes into play.  In order to get these legal affairs in place, you will need the help of probate attorneys. The following is some more information about the same.

Getting wills made

A will is a document which helps a person express his last wishes and pass on his wealth to the heirs.  This is a legal document which outlines every detail from funeral arrangements to which assets which beneficiaries will get or inherit.  Upon the death of the person, the will and the testaments are filed through probate courts for settlement of court and validation.  It takes about three to nine months in the process of validating wills and probate and this is the time which allows estate administrators to find missing heirs, obtain property appraisals, pay outstanding debts, contact creditors and notify governmental agencies.

It is important for each and every individual to get a will made in the middle or later stages of life. The will can be continuously updated with the help of trust attorney and this is why it is important to hire one carefully. The legal attorney also proves useful when the heirs may fight over the designated wealth or property. The heirs may want to contest probated wills if they think that the deceased was under the influence of another when they executed the document or was not of sound mind.

Hiring a legal attorney for wills and probate is essential for everyone as it helps with resolving of issues that may later arise as well. Estate planning is often considered an important part of forming wills and probate and one can hire estate planning lawyers too for the purpose.  Estate planning lawyers include several other things like executing the last will, developing irrevocable or revocable trusts and other such things. It is thus important to hire only qualified and experienced will and probate attorneys and only after comparing a few options and legal companies.

Probate details

A probate is basically a legal document which helps in the process of administering the estate of a deceased person. It helps to resolve all kinds of claims and distributes the deceased individual’s property under a will. It is a legal instrument which may be enforced by the executor in the court of law if the need may arise.  Both wills and probate documents are extremely important and must be studied and sign in the presence of attorneys.

If you are looking for a legal attorney to help you with wills and probate, you can log on to Lorren T. Johnston for the best services in town.

How a probate lawyer can help you avoid probate easily

Probate is basically a court supervised procedure which involves setting a deceased individual’s financial and personal affairs.  During the process of probate, a representative who is already appointed will collect the deceased person’s bills, assets and then distributes them to the heirs.  For a lot of people, it may make more sense to avoid probate and directly the assets to the heirs or beneficiaries.  But in order to make this possible, one has to hire probate lawyers Fairfax VA and also follow some tips, which are given as follows:

1.    Create a revocable living trust

One of the best ways to avoid probate easily is to create a revocable living trust.  This kind of a living trust is a legal agreement which is established when one is still alive and can be changed at any time and even multiple times. This kind of a trust becomes irrevocable upon the person’s death and you can even name a trustee to handle the assets after death.

2.    Consult an attorney

Another important tip to avoid probate is to consult a good attorney. Trust or probate lawyers can help you find many legally acceptable ways to avoid probate and that too easily. Trusts can be slightly tricky to set up and without legal help; it may not be possible for you to set up a trust.  An attorney can even help with many kinds of complicated tax matters and avoids wasting time and effort from your side.

3.    Sharing ownership

You can also practice joint ownership in order to avoid probate.  What happens is that probate can be avoided if the possessions or property you own are also owned by another person.  This other individual can be the spouse with a right of survivorship. But you will also need to decide how you wish to share the ownership. There are many ways to do so including joint tenancy with right of survivorship, tenancy by its entirety, community property with right of survivorship and common law property etc.

4.    Understanding probate

Unless you understand probate properly, you won’t be able to avoid it completely.  Basically, the process of probate is a legal procedure where the final debts of an individual are settled and the legal ownership of property is passes on from the deceased to the heirs or the beneficiaries.  The process can be broken down into three main steps which are:

• The collection, appraisal and inventory of all assets are subject to probate.
• Payment of taxes, bills, estate expenses and creditors from assets of decedent.
• Distribution and transfer of all property of the estate.

So now that you know the tips to avoid probate, you too can follow them if you wish to get out of the situation. There are many good attorneys for probate and business law Leesburg VA who can help you with the same and to refer to one of the best one, you can refer to Lorren T. Johnston.

When to hire a lawyer for your business and when not to

There is always a right time to hire a business law attorney to deal with matters related to business and legal aspects of it. A lawyer can prove helpful in many different business scenarios such as drawing up contracts, helping in the incorporation process and others.  But it is important to know that there are certain things which you can do on your own as well and you won’t need a lawyer to handle them. Knowing when to hire the business law attorney and when not to can help you save both time and money. The following are some guidelines regarding the same.

When it is time to hire the attorney:

• Forming a corporation-forming a corporation with shareholders and with a board is a complex process and may need you to look for and hire an experienced business law Attorney.  Where on one hand, articles of incorporation can be filed without lawyers, on the other hand, management complex legal and tax requirements may need a corporate attorney’s services.
• Buying or selling a business-a corporate lawyer can be very helpful with negotiating sales agreements and lease agreements as well.
• Filing a patent-patents are both time consuming and expensive and may take years without a professional. This is why it is important to consult a patent attorney so that you can evaluate your product and also understand what kind of rights you will achieve.
• Litigation-litigation includes dealing with lawsuits by former or even current employees, customers, environment lawsuits, discrimination or harassment lawsuits and others.  This process too will need you to hire a professional attorney.

When not to hire a lawyer for your business:

• Naming your business and claiming trademark-one of the situations where people tend to hire lawyers but can possibly do it on their own is when naming their business and claiming trademark.
• Setting the legal structure of business-it is actually easy to enter into a partnership and form an LLC without the help or guidance of a business law attorney.  It is definitely wise to consult one if you have already hired someone but you can also use online broker services for the same purpose and thus save both money and time.
• Filing paperwork to start a business-filing and registering paperwork to start a business can also be done on your own without the guidance or services of a corporate attorney. The processes and steps involved in this work can be found on the internet on government sites.

If you are someone who needs to hire a professional business law attorney, then you must remember to check for the firm’s or lawyer’s experience, skills, reputation and reviews. Using the internet for research is a good way to find the maximum information. You can visit Lorren T. Johnston to hire one of the best business law attorneys in Virginia and also one of the most experienced and affordable ones.

The four main pillars of estate planning you must know about

Estate planning is an activity which is important for not just the wealthy and the rich people but also for those who live on medium incomes and wages. It is an act of planning and managing your assets and wealth in such a way that it can be protected for the future and does not have to incur a lot of taxes or payments. If you are interested in planning your estate then you must know about the 4 main pillars of this activity. The following is some detailed information of the 4 pillars of estate planning:

1. Financial security-when it comes to estate planning, the first and the most important pillar is that it offers you a lot of financial security which you may not be able to avail otherwise. When you hire a trust attorney Northern VA or a Probate Attorneys Fairfax VA or elsewhere then not only do you opt to take a step forward towards securing your assets but also securing your finances as a whole.  You not only make this security for yourself but also for your heir or future generations.
2. Estate management-another pillar of estate planning is estate management. When you opt for planning your estate, you also enable its correct management and will benefit from this in the coming future. Estate management is a way to utilize the estate planning tools like trusts etc. so as to make sure that there is no problem faced in the years to come and that everything is sorted.
3. Estate protection-another major benefit of estate planning is estate protection. Protecting your estate from creditors and lawsuits is very important for everyone and helps you in getting protection from several attacks from your own family members as well.  This can be achieved by following strategies like limited partnerships, trusts, IRAs, annuities and others.
4. Estate tax reduction-Another pillar of estate planning that you must know about is estate tax reduction.  The process of Estate planning gives you the permission or chance to pass along estate assets with the lowest possible tax consequences to your successors or heirs. In most cases people tend to pass along tax burdens and formalities to their future generations without even realizing it but when you opt for estate planning then you can reduce this tax formality which is unintended. You must get an expert and skilled estate planning attorney as only an experiences person can help you to get the best defense against unintended tax consequences.

Now that you know all about the 4 pillars of estate planning, you must understand its importance. If you are looking for an expert lawyer or attorney to help you out, you can log on to Lorren T. Johnston and hire the best professional for this matter at the most reasonable and affordable rates possible.so what are you waiting for, log on today!

Busting the top myths about asset protection

Asset protection is something which everyone needs, no matter how much money you have. Asset protection is the act of protecting your wealth, property and other assets and avoid them for incurring taxes, extra costs etc. But in spite of the popularity of asset protection and trust protection,there are many myths associated with it. These myths need to be busted because only then you will be able to easily avail protection services from lawyers or attorneys. The following are the top myths busted about asset protection:

I don’t think I will get sued

One of the most common myths associated with asset protection is that people think they just cannot get sued just like they can never get cancer. But this is not true, no matter how much wealth you have or no matter how much care you take of your assets, you can still be at a risk of getting sued. Thus you must avoid being casual.

It is impossible to achieve 100% asset protection

Another common misconception about asset protection is that no one can achieve 100% asset protection and there is still some scope left for it. But this is not true as these days, with the help of Trust lawyer Loudoun County or asset protection attorneys; it is possible to be totally or completely protected.

Asset protection lawyers can be difficult to get and expensive to hire

Another myth related to asset protection is that asset protection lawyers or attorneys can be expensive to hire and it may take a lot of time to find the perfect lawyer.  This is a myth since there are many good lawyers out there who can provide you customized solutions and may even be affordable. You can search online to find one such attorney and conduct a meeting to know the cost, services on offering etc.

Only a single insurance is enough for me

Another myth associated with asset protection is that just a single entity or insurance is enough for my business or for me but this is a misconception and a thinking which people must change.  It is always better to take a combination of insurances or entities to obtain the best tax advantage and protection.  This very method or strategy of taking multiple solutions minimizes the tax risk and enables you to reach near 100% asset protection mark.

I should put my assets in my spouse’s lower liability account

A lot of people think that my putting their assets in their spouse’s lower liability name can help them protect the assets in a much better way but this too is just a myth and a misconception as this may not be a way for asset protection.

From the many ways of asset protection, the best is to hire a professional attorney and get top quality Asset Protection Northern VA or any other area that you live in. to avail this kind of protection, you can log on to lorrentjohnston.com.

Understanding What Estate Planning Is and What an Estate Planning Attorney Does

What is estate planning?

Estate planning is the process through which someone manages and parcels out an estate in order to reduce the amount of taxes owed and is also referred to a process of transferring estate and assets to beneficiaries after the death.  The main goal of estate planning is to get all your financial wishes to be met upon death so that the decisions are not determined by a court later on.

What does an estate planning attorney do?

To handle the process of transferring assets or naming beneficiaries, the help of wills, power of attorneys, trusts and other such surrogacies are needed.  And the process involves following a legal route to help out your family or children after your death. For this purpose the help and advice of a legal expert is needed and this legal expert holds the position of an estate planning attorney. The attorney helps you in figuring out whether or not you have met all the requirements for transferring of funds and to help you out with the complex paperwork.

Moreover, without an asset protection law firm, it can be difficult to know whether or not the laws of the state are being followed through the processes followed in naming the beneficiaries.

What steps should be followed to plan your estate?

The first step in planning your estate is to get your documents in order. Make sure you get all the names and addresses of parties correct.  All the other information should also be entered correctly and should be cross checked several times. Another thing that you must follow to plan your estate is to hire a good estate planning attorney. The lawyer determines your estate planning process and its success so make sure you hire a licensed lawyer who has plenty of experience in this field of work. Reveal information all the assets that you own and decide carefully who do you wish to hand over those assets to.

Where you find an estate planning lawyer?

The next question that you might face is where to find an estate planning lawyer. The best place to start looking is among the people that you know. Ask for reference or ask people to recommend to you which lawyer they used and how effective he/she was. If you are convinced, call or visit the lawyer and see if you find him worth trusting and hiring. Another way to find an estate planning lawyer is through newspaper advertisements or marketing hoardings etc.  Once you find a lawyer, you can read online reviews to find out what people or previous clients have to say about the attorney.

So if you are looking for an attorney for estate planning or asset protection law firm in Fairfax VA, then you can visit Lorren T. Johnston and contact a lawyer to know the rate and specify your requirements.  This website gives you access to lawyers for all your needs.