If you are one that likes to be prepared for life’s eventualities then you should consider the possibility of mental incapacity.  According to the Alzheimer’s Association 13% of senior citizens suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, and this rises to about 40% among individuals who have reached the age of 85. Alzheimer’s causes dementia among other things and people who are suffering from dementia can find themselves unable to make sound decisions.

To prepare yourself, you may want to consider creating a living trust with incapacity safeguards included.  In many cases the grantor will serve as the trustee while he or she is alive and fully capable of decision-making. However, you could also name a disability trustee who would administer the resources in the trust if the grantor and primary trustee was to become incapacitated.

In addition, durable powers of attorney are recommended as a way to empower people of your own choosing to make decisions in your behalf should you become unable to do so in the future due to incapacity.

If interested parties were to suspect that you have become incapable to manage your own affairs effectively they could petition the court to appoint a guardian to make decisions in your behalf.  This can be an expensive, time consuming and humiliating process.  This possibility can be avoided if you plan ahead intelligently.  The best way to do so is with the assistance of an experienced and licensed Reno estate planning attorney.

Anderson, Dorn & Rader, Ltd is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

There are a lot of details to take into consideration when you are planning your legacy, and the best way to address them is with the assistance of an experienced estate planning attorney. Rather than being consistently confronted with a series of unanswered questions as you think things through it is much simpler and more efficient to sit down with a legacy planning professional and work through the process from an informed perspective.

Experienced estate planning attorneys know how to proceed under any circumstances and they also understand how to adjust your estate plan on an ongoing basis as changes both within your life and throughout society as a whole take place that impact your existing plan.

One of the intricacies that people often face when they are engaged in inheritance planning involves providing for minor children. There are a number of different ways to proceed, and one of them would be to create a trust and make the child the beneficiary.

You can stipulate whatever you would like to in the trust with regard to what expenditures the trust is empowered to make in behalf of the child while he or she is still a minor. The grantor could then go on to set forth the terms for distribution of assets after the child becomes a legal adult.

Some people allow for the transfer of the total lump sum when the child reaches a particular age, and others arrange for more gradual distributions. You could even choose to include incentives such as allowing for regular distributions while the beneficiary remains in college with a lump sum to follow upon graduation.

Short of creating a trust you could name a property guardian in your will or appoint a custodian under the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act. At a minimum, parents of minor children must have a will where a guardian of the person of your children can be named.

Providing for minor children is an important part of many estate plans. If you would like to learn more details, simply arrange for a consultation with an experienced estate planning attorney.

Anderson, Dorn & Rader, Ltd is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.