Using Estate Services San Francisco

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By Amanda Young


After amassing a lifetime's worth of assets and personal property, you may reach a point where you need to think about how all of it will be divided after you are gone. You presumably do not want your loved ones to bicker over your possessions and argue over who gets what items and money. You instead may wish to lay out the terms for how your belongings will be distributed. When you retain the guidance of professional estate services San Francisco benefactors like you can avoid division and strife in the family after your passing.

People who work in this industry are typically lawyers or legal mediators. They have the credentials to represent clients both while they are alive and after they are deceased. These individuals also know the process of filing a case in probate court and following through with the legally required steps to have estates settled.

You have the right to retain the services of one of these professionals before you pass away, however. Even if you are in good health right now and expect to live for years, you may want to finalize your wishes and plan ahead for the time that comes after you expire. You want to know that all of your funeral plans are taken care of and that your assets and money are protected.

You still have a legal obligation to pay off some of your creditors after you die. Some creditors like the IRS and state have a legitimate claim to the assets and cash you leave behind. The mediator or lawyer you hire has to put a notice in the paper notifying these creditors that you have passed away and they have 30 days to file a claim to your funds.

After the final expenses are settled, your representative can then begin distributing your assets and wealth to your heirs. This process can be contentious if your loved ones do not agree with your will. However, your legal representative will have the right to defend your wishes in court if necessary and protect the assets from being unfairly seized by one or several individuals.

Taxes are unavoidable even after death. The IRS and state government have ways to collect once or twice from people's estates. The most common way involves the gift tax, which applies in certain cases to people who give large amounts of money or property away to relatives. Your adviser will tell you if it is better to give the gift before you die or if it would be cheaper to do it after you have passed on.

You do not have to be wealthy to be eligible to retain this type of legal help. People who make modest livings can still benefit by consulting with a mediator or lawyer in this area of law. Even if you do not have a lot of money to will to your heirs, the legal expert's help could allow you to settle your expenses without leaving bills for your loved ones to pay.

The estate you leave behind can be distributed anyway the government pleases if you do not leave specific instructions. You may avoid contention and hard feelings by hiring services that handle these affairs for you. You also avoid leaving behind bills that your relatives may not be able to pay.




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