What a Will Cannot Do
Making a will is a crucial part of estate planning for anyone in Gwinnett County. Yet it is also important to keep in mind that there are also other important components of estate planning that you should not neglect. To be clear, while a will can allow you to do a number of things that are important for your estate plan, there are also certain things that a will cannot do. Instead, you will need to work with an estate planning lawyer in Gwinnett County to ensure that you have a complete estate plan that accounts for all of your future needs (and your beneficiaries’ future needs) so that you can have peace of mind.
What are the things that a will cannot do? And what types of estate planning documents will you need instead?
Things Your Will Cannot Do
A will can allow you to do many things, including select beneficiaries for your real and intangible property, identify an executor to administer your estate, and nominate a guardian to provide care for your minor children. However, a will cannot do the following things:
- Your will cannot allow you to name a person to make important financial or health care decisions on your behalf if you become incapacitated;
- Your will cannot allow you to declare whether or not you want to receive certain types of treatment if you become incapacitated and are terminally ill;
- Your will cannot allow you to set up a trust for your disabled child or grandchild; and
- Your will cannot allow your beneficiaries to avoid probate.
If you want to do any of the above, it is important to know that there are estate planning documents and tools to do all of the above, but you will need to work with a lawyer to ensure that you have all of the proper materials in place.
Estate Planning Documents That Fill Roles That Your Will Cannot
What are the documents you will need to create in order to do the things that a will cannot do? Generally speaking, you will want to discuss the following with your estate planning lawyer:
- Naming in agent in a durable power of attorney document who can make important financial decisions on your behalf if you become incapacitated;
- Creating an advance directive for health care so that you can name a health care agent who can make important health care decisions on your behalf if you become incapacitated, and so that you can enumerate the powers they have according to your wishes;
- Creating an advance directive for health care so that you can declare whether or not you want to receive certain types of treatment if you become incapacitated and are terminally ill (naming a health care agent and their powers, as well as declaring your wishes concerning certain treatments, are both covered in an advance directive for health care document in Georgia)’
- Setting up a special needs trust (SNT) to provide for your disabled child or grandchild without affecting their eligibility for public benefits; and
- Establishing trusts, payable-on-death designations, and more to allow your beneficiaries to avoid probate.
Contact a Norcross Estate Planning Attorney
If you have any questions about what your will can or cannot do, and the types of estate planning documents you will need to have peace of mind, it is important to discuss your personal circumstances with an experienced Norcross estate planning lawyer at Bowman Law Firm. We can assist you with drafting a valid and enforceable will, and we can also assist you with all other components of estate plan that can allow you to make future plans that a will alone cannot account for. Do not hesitate to get in touch with us to find out about the wide-ranging estate planning services we offer to residents of Gwinnett County.
Sources:
law.justia.com/codes/georgia/title-53/
law.emory.edu/_includes/documents/sections/academics/ga-statutory-form-healthcare-directive-fillable-instructions.pdf
pamms.dhs.ga.gov/dfcs/medicaid/2346/
