There seems to be a day or a month to celebrate everything, from siblings day to donut day and everything in between. August is celebrated as a national make-a-will month, and for good reason. Roughly 67% of individuals do not have a self-designed estate plan in place, be it a will or trust centered estate plan. At its core, an estate plan design requires at least a will, durable power of attorney for finances, and advance directive for healthcare. To ensure, among many other things, that probate is avoided and our wishes and goals are met in terms of asset distribution after our death, sometimes a will is sufficient and sometimes a trust plan is needed (yes, trusts are useful estate planning tools even if we don’t have a taxable estate and we don’t own millions of dollars . . . or a yacht). To ensure that the State of Wyoming’s intestacy statutory scheme (click here https://hirstapplegate.com/everyone-estate-plan-design-leaving-legislatures-statutory-scheme/ to read the article on this topic) doesn’t govern our assets, it is important to meet with an experienced Wyoming estate planning attorney, who understands and practices daily in estate planning, in order to answer questions you may have and to help guide you in creating your own estate plan. Online forms (although some are “free”) are generally a one-size fits all approach, not based on Wyoming law. Yet, all of our assets, family dynamics, and goals are different, making that one-size fits all approach ultimately a one-size fits all expensive nightmare at the time of death or disability. What may have been “free” to set up, most often turns into a pricey, time consuming probate and estate administration, costing your estate and family more money than if you had just met with an estate planning attorney at the beginning.

Estate planning attorneys at Hirst Applegate, LLP specialize in estate planning and estate and trust administration and offer no charge, no obligation initial consultations. Please call our firm and speak with Shaina A. Case to get your estate plan done the correct way.