What is Estate Planning?

What is estate planning? Attorney L. Reed Bloodworth, Founder and CEO of Bloodworth Law said “estate planning is the act of creating legal documents and plans that outline for Florida courts and your heirs, exactly what you want to have happen to your children, your assets, and your estate after you die or if you become incapacitated.”

Bloodworth Law provides Florida families and individuals with estate planning and estate litigation legal services through offices in Orlando, Florida, and Winter Haven, Florida.

Estate Planning Documents

The Bloodworth Law Estate Planning Team can work with you remotely on the phone, via Zoom, or in the office.

“We tell people to choose someone they trust completely because they’re going to be able to act on your behalf in dealings with real property, investments, financial matters, business matters, your estate, your retirement, taxes, and trusts. They have what’s called superpowers,” said Reed, a 2022 U.S. News & World Report Best Lawyer in Trusts & Estates Litigation

“We work with you on your estate planning, the documents, and can serve as legal counsel for Florida families and individuals across the state facing estate litigation or trust litigation.”

Estate planning documents include:

• The last will and testament
• A durable power of attorney
• A designation of a health care surrogate
• A living will, and, optionally,
• A trust

Estate Planning Includes Legal, Health & Financial Decisions

Did you know that estate planning also includes making legal plans in case you become unable to handle legal, health, and financial decisions?

There are many choices that need to be made about your health in case you become ill or are incapacitated. Hospitals and doctors ask for these health documents and you should be prepared in case there’s an emergency. It includes your possible options and choices for future physical or mental incapacity.

Estate planning involves making important financial decisions about your property and for people who depend on you for support.

You can make plans for long-term nursing care and for the health care that you may or may not want. Estate planning also involves plans for your funeral, whether you’re buried or cremated, and any memorial arrangements you need to establish.

Personal Representative

You’ll choose a personal representative, or executor, who collects and inventories property and distributes it according to your will. This person pays bills, collects debts, distributes things in accordance with a will, and files tax returns on your behalf.

Carry Out Your Wishes

Making sure your wishes are carried out by leaving clear instructions regarding your assets is a primary purpose of estate planning. These instructions can be regarding personal property, real property, titled assets, and digital assets.

If you don’t have an estate plan, you won’t have a say in what happens to you, your children, your assets, or yourself if you become physically incapable, or if you die intestate.

When you’re ready to begin estate planning, talk to Reed about how Bloodworth Law Estate Planning Team can help you, or your family.