You’ve undoubtedly been planning for the future your whole life, but there comes a time when such planning doesn’t include you in that future. Instead, such planning helps ensure the best for your family after you die. Estate planning ensures that your assets are distributed to loved ones according to your wishes rather than Tennessee’s intestacy laws. Effective estate planning can also:
- Help minimize taxes, legal fees, and related costs.
- Ensure that a guardian of your choosing protects any assets you leave to minor children.
- Establish long-term asset protection and distribution to loved ones needing financial security through a trust.
- Strategize effective family business succession and continuation.
- Allow you to make advanced healthcare and financial directives to address potential incapacitation.
- Avoid or minimize prolonged probate.
Along with developing a will, establishing trusts, protecting assets, and other measures, effective estate planning needs to account for unique factors relating to local laws, real estate dynamics, and other economic considerations. For example, Nashville’s booming real estate market makes property a significant portion of many people’s estates. Thus, proper valuation may be needed to ensure its desired allocation, or an owner may want to use trusts or other strategies to protect it from creditors or to facilitate a smooth transfer to heirs without lengthy probate.
In short, estate planning in Tennessee can be a complicated exercise that often requires financial and legal expertise. To help overcome the challenges of estate planning across Middle Tennessee, we suggest you turn to the expertise of a Nashville estate planning attorney. Here are some tips on searching for the best estate planning lawyer for your unique needs.
Criteria for Choosing the Best Nashville Estate Planning Attorney
More than 530 lawyers practice estate planning in Nashville, according to the online legal database Avvo. They cannot all be “the best”; a few certainly have far more experience and legal expertise than the others. Any state-licensed attorney in Tennessee can offer estate planning services, and many do so even if it isn’t a primary focus of their practice.
Thus, in searching for the best Nashville estate planning attorney, look for those specializing in it and have many years of dedicated practice. Prospective estate planning lawyers or firms should specifically list “estate planning” in their practice areas in conjunction with related subjects like probate, Medicaid planning, conservatorship, and trusts. If a Nashville lawyer lists estate planning among other disparate fields like juvenile law, personal injury, or DUI, they probably don’t “specialize” in it, so move on.
Once you’ve narrowed your search to a few viable prospects, assess their experience and expertise. Review their websites to learn more about their experience, practice focus, professionalism, and legal successes. The Tennessee Bar Association and Nashville Bar Association should be standard. At the same time, memberships in the Elder Counsel, Life Care Planning Law Firms Association, and the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys show a commitment to elder law issues like estate planning. You should also review client testimonials on Avvo, Super Lawyers, and Google.
The Consultation Process
Once you’ve identified top prospects, you’ll need to consult with them to determine if they can effectively strategize your estate planning. Approach the initial consultation as if you were evaluating a prospective employee. Outline some challenges you foresee with your estate planning to see how they respond. Assess how they communicate and whether they effectively respond to questions with a clear explanation of relevant legal issues. A few important questions you can ask during this consultation include:
- How do you develop estate plans for clients with complex assets like business interests and real estate?
- What are the challenges in developing an estate plan that avoids or minimizes probate?
- How do you approach the estate planning process from start to finish?
- What if my estate plan is challenged after I’m dead?
Avoiding Common Mistakes in Nashville Estate Planning
Nashville-area residents who develop estate plans without legal assistance frequently make mistakes that can disrupt the allocation of assets or otherwise fail to meet the goals of effectively providing for their loved ones. Some common mistakes include:
- Failing to create a will or establish a trust due to a mistaken impression that Tennessee’s intestacy laws will fairly distribute assets.
- Ignoring Tennessee’s “elective share” laws, under which a surviving spouse can claim up to 40% of an estate regardless of the will.
- Not designating power of attorney or a healthcare directive to address potential incapacitation.
- Using generic online legal templates, which can result in errors like improper legal documentation language and improper witnessing.
- Failing to update beneficiary designations after significant life events like divorce or remarriage occur.
- Not properly accounting for taxes and debts.
Protect Your Family’s Future with a Dedicated Estate Planning Lawyer in Nashville
By working with an experienced Nashville estate planning attorney like Barbara Moss of Elder Law of Nashville, you can avoid the potential pitfalls of do-it-yourself estate planning. This helps you ensure your legacy is protected and passed down to loved ones per your desires. With more than three decades of experience with estate planning and other elements of elder law, Barbara is intimately familiar with the relevant state laws and strategizes effective estate plans that account for Nashville’s unique legal and economic landscape.
For your estate planning needs or related elder law issues in Nashville, Franklin, and across Middle Tennessee, trust the legal experts of Elder Law of Nashville. Protect your legacy today; schedule a consultation.