Essential elements needed for estate planning

Once Nevada residents decide to create a plan to provide for their loved ones after their death, they have some preliminary tasks to complete. Estate planning is about the distribution of an individual’s assets, payment of liabilities and performing other tasks to close the estate. Those tasks cannot be effectively or efficiently completed without certain essential elements.

The first is an inventory of all assets no matter where they might be. This includes personal accounts and property, real property and digital assets. Even if family members have a general, working knowledge of what an individual owns and owes, without a detailed list, something could be missed. This could cause delays in the distribution of assets, along with other complications.

The second critical task is to choose an executor. This should be a person — or persons if desired — whom the individual creating the estate plan trusts to handle the administration of the estate. The chosen person will be responsible for ensuring that all tasks associated with the estate are completed as swiftly and economically as possible. It would be helpful to ascertain whether the person or persons are willing to serve prior to naming them in the will. In anticipation that one or more executors should decline to serve, an alternate should be appointed.

With these two task completed, documentation can be drafted and executed to make a Nevada resident’s wishes known. Estate planning can be tailored to an individual’s needs and desires. However, it would be inadvisable to attempt to create such a plan without assistance since any errors could cause unnecessary delays and diminish the assets of the estate.

Source: realtor.com, “7 Things Your Estate Planner Wants You to Know Before You Die“, Jamie Wiebe, Aug. 29, 2016

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Johnson & Johnson Law Offices - Probate Lawyers of Las Vegas, Nevada, provide representation throughout Las Vegas, Henderson, North Las Vegas, Overton, Logandale, Mountain's Edge, Aliante, Anthem, Sun City, Siena, Boulder City, Mesquite, Pahrump, Summerlin, Southern Highlands and Green Valley. This includes the counties of Clark County, Nye County, Lincoln County, as well as greater Southern Nevada.

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