In Wheat Ridge and Jefferson County, writing a will and creating an estate plan is the best way to make sure your end of life wishes are respected. Estate plans and wills can be complicated, simply because you must follow Colorado laws in all your planning and asset divisions. It’s easy to make mistakes and these errors can end up costing your estate and beneficiaries both time and money. Let’s look at some common errors related to wills that you will want to make sure to avoid.
Common Errors Found in Wills and Estate Plans: An Arvada Estate Planning Attorney Explains
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Including Specific Assets:
When you include a specific asset in your will, it can be problematic. For example, say you want to leave a piece of property you own in Arvada to your nephew. When you drafted your will, you owned the property, but since that time, you have sold it and never updated your will. The estate may have to purchase property to give to your nephew in order to comply with your will, which would likely be a costly issue.
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Beneficiaries:
You need to make sure that you update your will so that all your beneficiaries are up to date. Let’s say you want to leave an amount of money to be spilt among your adult grandchildren, but you hadn’t updated to include your latest grandchild. That person will not receive any of the benefits, even though you likely wanted them to, but just didn’t update the paperwork to reflect that.
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Assets to Minors:
Leaving assets directly to minors can cause major complications. It is best to set up a trust for any minors listed in your will and choose someone you trust to help manage the money until the child reaches maturity.
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Alternate Beneficiaries:
We all know life is unexpected and it’s hard to plan for that. If you are listing a beneficiary in your will, it’s prudent to name an alternative just in case something happens and the beneficiary passes away before the will takes effect.
If you are preparing your will and estate plan, contact the best attorneys from the Pearman Law Firm at 303-991-7600 for your free initial phone consultation.
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