estate Planning and Administration
- Advanced Estate Planning
- Creation of Durable Powers of Attorney, Healthcare Powers of Attorney, HIPAA documents and Wills
- Assist Executor in administering the estate
- Disbursement and closure of estates
- Administration of trusts
Preparing for the end of your life does not have to be nerve-racking. As the only board-certified Estate Planning and Probate Specialist in Fuquay-Varina, Linda Johnson is expertly qualified to plan and administer your estate. She and her team will help relieve unnecessary stress and expense from your end-of-life affairs with the creation of legal documents containing your wishes. These documents include the Durable Power of Attorney, Healthcare Power of Attorney, HIPAA release and the Last Will and Testament, and may include a Trust. We can also assist the executor in the management and disbursements of an estate. Our years of experience and specialist status prove we have the experience to ensure the protection of your interests in your end-of-life planning.
More About Estate Planning and Administration
Estate planning provides more than a will to provide direction in the distribution of your possessions and assets after you pass away. The Power of Attorney documents designate who will make decisions for you, if you become unable to make them for yourself. The Durable Power of Attorney appoints an agent to pay your bills, file taxes, and make everyday financial decisions for you. This agent cannot make healthcare decisions for you, those decisions are made by an agent appointed in your Healthcare Power of Attorney. Included in our Health Care Power of Attorney is a Living Will. This is a legal document that clearly communicates your wishes about the use of life-prolonging procedures in the event you are unable to communicate them yourself. This is different than a DNR. A DNR (or Do Not Resuscitate) is a medical order, while the Living Will is a legal document. An authorization for the use and disclosure of protected health information will allow your Financial Agent and the Health Care Agent to access your health records and speak with healthcare professionals, doctor’s offices ad insurance companies. We create these three documents with the Last Will and Testament in our Will Package.
If you are incapacitated without these documents in place, then someone will have to initiate the Guardianship proceeding through the court in order to ask for permission to make decisions on your behalf. A Durable Power of Attorney and a Healthcare Power of Attorney allow you to circumvent this expense and avoid the delay in decision making because you will have appointed such persons while you were competent.
If you pass away without a Last Will and Testament, then your estate is called intestate and will be dispersed following the guidelines of the North Carolina General Statutes. The only way to ensure that your wishes are followed is to execute a will prior to your death.
If you are navigating an intestate estate, our office can assist you. We have experience with the statutes involved in the administration of an intestate estate and can assist in all parts of the administration and distributions.
If you have concerns for minor or special needs family members, our firm can create a trust for them as a part of your Last Will and Testament or as a separate trust. A trust is a fiduciary agreement in which the trustor appoints a trustee to manage the trustor’s assets. They are designed to protect and manage the assets on behalf of the beneficiary. Trusts are often created for the benefit of special needs beneficiaries, but could also be made on behalf of a fiscally irresponsible, or minor beneficiary, or in cases of second marriages.