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This form will allow you to build a simple estate plan and the documents and instructions necessary for avoiding probate if you pass away or become incapacitated.
Documents for Transferring Assets on Death:
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Transfer on Death Deed ($300)
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Funding Instructions for other assets - always included
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Will ($100)
Documents for Avoiding Probate if Incapacitaed (conservatorship)
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Power of Attorney over Finances ($100)
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Advance Health Care Directive ($100).
Your deed recording fee $100 - is included in this price. Your notary fees are paid to the notary and will be $15-$45 per person depending on how many documents you have. We believe End Probate is the one of the lowest overall cost service providers for creating and funding an estate plan.
Is this a good choice for me?
I want to:
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Leave a single-family home or other small property or financial accounts,
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to adult beneficiaries or minors who may get the property/money at 18
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who are not on public benefits,
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who get along, and
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if one beneficiary passes away, everything will go the surviving beneficiary (no contingent beneficiaries),
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Not having a probate or trust administration means:
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there will not be a straightforward process for settling debts or selling assets
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You will likely avoid Medi-cal liens, probate lenders, debts and fraud,
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Attorneys are often not needed which saves the average estate $20,000 [Attorneys are often not needed which saves the average estate $20,000]
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If these answers all work for you, great! Otherwise, you might consider a trust as part of your estate plan.
Will
The purpose of the will is so the beneficiaries you pick, instead of your heirs at law (aka next of kin), can collect and receive accounts that do not have a beneficiary designated on them. This is an important tool since some bank accounts do not allow beneficiary designations. Your beneficiaries will be the people listed above. You will also need to select an executor who will be the person who will be responsible for following your instructions for your assets if, for any reason, your estate ends up in probate.
Power of Attorney Over Finances
A power of attorney is a document that allows you to appoint an agent to make financial decisions on your behalf. The document we offer allows them to make these decisions at any time (whether or not you are incapacitated), and you should only nominate people you trust to have access to all your financial information.
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The reason a power of attorney is beneficial is if you become incapacitated and someone needs to manage your finances if there is no power of attorney in place, the person will have to go to court to be appointed as your conservator, which is a probate proceeding - that has all the same problems as regular probate - it is expensive, time-consuming, etc.
Advance Health Care Directives
An Advance Health Care Directive states that if you are not able to make your own health care choices, who will make decisions for you (aka your health care agent) and what types of decisions you would like them to make (aka your living will). This process avoids a conservatorship (probate for incapacitated people).
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[Advance Health Care Directives
An Advance Health Care Directive states that if you are not able to make your own health care choices, who will make decisions for you (aka your health care agent) and what types of decisions you would like them to make (aka your living will).
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Physicians Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatments
A Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) allows hospitalized patients to give orders to medical personnel specifying the type of medical treatment a patient wishes to receive at the end of life. This document is meant to ensure that if you are incapacitated and your healthcare agent is not present, the medical team can follow your wishes.
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The answers you are giving will not create a POLST, that has to be done in a hospital. But by answering you can provide guidance to your healthcare agent to help them if you are incapacitated when hospitalized and they end up needing to state your preferences for you.
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In a POLST you give directions regarding CPR, artificial feeding, and what type of medical interventions are authorized.
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Most people will select on the following combinations of answers:
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Try Hard: You want CPR, a trial period of intubation, a trial period of artificial nutrition. This is the most common answer, which allows all interventions for at least some period but is not directing healthcare professionals to keep you alive under any circumstance.
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Allow Natural Death: You want no CPR, no intubation, no artificial nutrition. Best for clients with a terminal diagnosis or who are elderly and do not want to undergo painful measures that are unlikely to meaningfully extend life.
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Try Everything: You want CPR, intubation, and artificially administered nutrition is authorized. Best for healthy individuals who want to continue care under all circumstances and are willing to risk living life with diminished capacity.
Relatives Entitled to Notice
Your beneficiaries are going to need to know the address of your heirs at law or next of kin. Your next of kin is the group of people the law defines as those who would receive your property if you passed away with no will. The beneficiaries of your house will need to send a document to these people before they take title to protect their interests. If there is more than one beneficiary, they must notify each other.
Filling in as much contact information as you have is very helpful to your beneficiaries. Even saying who is in your family, with no contact information or only the city they last lived in, can help a lot. Email usually works to send notice, but sometimes mailing is required.
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Beneficiaries
You may leave your home to people, a trust that you have already established, or a charity.
If you leave the property to people, the assets will go to your then-living beneficiaries in equal shares.
Asset List and Probate Avoidance Plan
Your beneficiaries will want to collect your financial assets. Creating a list of those accounts and your plan for avoiding probate will make it much easier for your beneficiaries to collect them. We encourage users to add there existing accounts, and their current probate avoidance plan. If you do not do this step in the form you can do this step in the future in writing in your End Probate packet.