Estate Planning
Rogness & Field brings years of experience to bear when helping you plan your estate. We will make sure that your estate plan legally represents your values and desires as you look to the future.
An estate plan is a legal framework that a person or family creates to help guide what will happen upon death. In a simple estate, typically this plan consists of a will, power of attorney and health care directive.
Wills
A will sets forth what will happen to a person’s assets upon that person’s death. A will can also include a plan for what will happen regarding the care of minor children.
Health Care Directive
A health care directive appoints a person to act on your behalf if you are unable to communicate your wishes with regard to your health care. This person is known as your health care agent. Your health care directive sets forth guidelines for your health care agent to follow in the event you are unable to speak for yourself.
Power of Attorney
A power of attorney gives a person (the attorney-in-fact) the ability to control a person’s finances while that person is still alive. A power of attorney can give very limited power, or can be very broad, but the ability to use a power of attorney ends upon a person’s death.
Trusts
Estate planning requires analysis of current tax law and probate considerations. As a result, a simple estate plan is not always the best option. Depending on your estate and your goals, there are many types of trusts and other estate planning tools available. These include life insurance trusts, QTIP trusts, grantor retained annuity trusts, grantor retained unitrusts, qualified personal residence trusts, trusts for minors, charitable remainder trusts, revocable trusts, irrevocable trusts and testamentary trusts.
Small Estate
If a probate estate does not include real estate and THE probate estate is less than $75,000, a formal probate proceeding is not necessary. The beneficiary(ies) of the estate can transfer assets via an Affidavit of Survivorship. This is something our office can help you with if you prefer or something that can be done oneself, using the forms available on the Minnesota District Court’s website.