When you go through the legal process of Estate Planning, this includes you deciding: (1) who you want to receive any real estate, savings/investments, tangible personal property, and other assets of yours after your death; (2) who you want to put in control of making
decisions and handling your legal and financial affairs after your death, and during lifetime if you become incapacitated; (3) whether you want to avoid the time, expense, and complexities of after-death probate and lifetime probate; (4) who to name as guardian(s) to raise your children if you die when you have children still under the age of 18; (5) and minimizing or avoiding gift tax and/or estate tax for extremely wealthy families.
Estate planning attorneys help their clients by preparing legal documents such as wills, trusts, beneficiary designations, powers of attorney, charitable trusts and life insurance trusts, and much more. Good estate planning attorneys also want to ensure their clients have appropriate disability insurance, life insurance, and long-term care insurance in place, as these types of insurance are often an integral part of a good estate plan but are
completely ignored by many estate planning attorneys.