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Working Together to Design an Estate Plan to
Protect You and Your Loved Ones
Arranging for a will, and other legal instruments like trusts and power-of-attorney documents, is an easy process with appropriate guidance. It typically amounts to a few hours of your time and some careful thought and discussion of your preferences with your loved ones. Beyond creation of specific legal documents, the Law Office of Sonya Linton will consult with you regarding other complex topics such as life insurance.
Has getting a will always been on your to-do list? If so, you are like most people. In fact a majority of North Carolinians die without a will, leaving the state government to dispose of their assets, including arranging care for any minor children. After hearing this statistic one might naturally think that if that many people die without a will, why would they need to go to the trouble to get one in place? Surely the state government would know how to handle this kind of thing for you.
On the contrary, North Carolina is limited to following a strict set of guidelines that allow little flexibility for you and your family’s preferences, including guardianship for your children, burial preferences and designation of beneficiaries. Beyond this, the state has to pay private parties to dispose of your estate using funds from the estate itself. This can be significantly more costly than arranging a will in the first place, leaving less for your beneficiaries.
As medical enhancements allow us to live longer we are also much more likely to become incapacitated at some point in our lives. This can leave your loved ones with very difficult decisions if you have not clearly relayed your preferences in a format that is protected by the law.
