Fisher Law Firm

Welcome to 2020! A new year is a time for optimism and new opportunities. It is a time to start fresh and make sure you are headed in the right direction. But making New Year’s resolutions is not enough: Take action now to ensure that you and your family or loved ones are prepared for the future!

Create a New Estate Plan in the New Year

A new year is a great time to take positive steps that will enhance your life, including putting an estate plan in place. There are many reasons why having an estate plan is beneficial. Having a comprehensive estate plan designed with the help of an experienced estate planning attorney can provide substantial peace of mind, both for you and for the loved ones you will eventually leave behind.

The internet offers all the information and tools we need at our fingertips to create our own estate plan, right? For most people, this is simply not true. Several years ago, Consumer Reports®, an independent nonprofit consumer watchdog group, created wills using the forms provided by DIY websites and asked three law professors to review them. Although the professors found that the wills drafted using the DIY services were better than wills drafted by non-lawyers on their own, they were inadequate to fully meet the needs of most consumers. Although your DIY “estate plan” may initially cost only $49.95, it may end up being much, much more expensive than an estate plan designed by an experienced estate planning attorney.

What To Do After a Loved One Dies

If you've been appointed an executor of a loved one's estate, or a successor trustee, and that person dies, your grief – not to mention your to-do list, including tasks ranging from planning the funeral, coordinating relatives coming in from out of town and (eventually) meeting with a trust administration or probate lawyer – can be quite overwhelming. First and foremost, take care of yourself during this emotional time.

To help you with the “business” end of things, here’s a quick checklist of crucial details that will make the trip to our office to handle the legal affairs easier. I know it can be difficult, but some of these things have a deadline, so make sure that you reach out sooner rather than later:

• Secure the deceased's personal property (vehicle, home, business, etc.).

Are you failing your family the way these 4 celebrities failed theirs?

These four celebrity estate planning fiascos offer lessons about how to handle your own planning and legacies.

1.         Pablo Picasso – The great Dada artist died in 1973 at 91 without a will, a status referred to as “intestate.” Of course, Picasso isn't the first, or the last, celebrity to die intestate.