Get Help with Your Will & Estate Plan

You work hard to build up a financial portfolio that will serve and provide for the needs of your family and loved ones. At some point in time, your personal wishes and directives will need to be carried out so there are no uncertainties at the time of your death. While no one likes to think of their inevitable passing, an ironclad will and estate plan can help prevent tensions between family members during a period that should be reserved for grief and family unity.

Wills & Estates Administration

Swanby Law provides a full estate planning package that ensures your estate will be disbursed according to your intended desires. This package consists of a will, enduring power of attorney, and a personal directive. Combined, these three essential documents ensure your assets will be protected and distributed in the event of your death or incapacity.

The Last Will

Taking effect at the time of your death, your last will appoints an executor to carry out your directives and ensure your assets are distributed to your intended beneficiaries. Your last will can include any number of distributions, including trusts for your children’s immediate and future needs, educational and post-secondary funding that is to remain untouched until they reach a certain age, and how to deal with business assets.

Enduring Power of Attorney

An enduring power of attorney is a document that manages your property and financial effects if you should ever become mentally incapable of doing so. Within this document, an “Attorney” is appointed to manage your affairs if you should become mentally incapacitated by age, accident, or illness. Preparing this document ensures your loved ones will not incur significant legal debts in applying for a trusteeship order in the courts.

Personal Directives

Similar to an enduring power of attorney, your personal directive handles matters related to your personal and healthcare decisions. Within this directive, you will assign an “Agent” to manage your affairs if you are unable to do so on your own accord. A personal directive acts like an insurance policy for instances where you lose your decision-making abilities, either due to accident, age, or illness. Without this document, your family or loved ones will be required to apply for a guardianship order and may incur significant expenses in the process. One of the document’s most common sections includes directions in the event of a terminal illness, often referred to as a declaration of your intent with respect to “critical decisions” and “heroic measures.”

Grant of Probate

A grant of probate is a legal process that occurs following your death. The Surrogate court will grant legal authority to your executor(s) in order to handle your estate’s administration.

Often, married couples will organize their assets as being “jointly owned.” Through “right of survivorship,” these assets will then pass on to the last surviving member of the family. If both parties are deceased, or if assets are declared as “solely owned,” then the transmission of the assets to a beneficiary or beneficiaries will require an application for a grant of probate.

Guardianship & Trusteeship Applications

The application for guardianship and trusteeship involves the appointment of a legal guardian to care for a person as a dependent adult, or a legal trustee, who will manage the property and financial aspects of the personal as a dependent adult.