Kettering Estate Planning Lawyers Help Build Montgomery County Legacies

At its most basic level, estate planning serves two key purposes. On the one hand, it is all about ensuring your wealth and assets are passed on to those who choose. On the other hand, it allows you to protect your agency and wishes should you be otherwise unable to do so, such as becoming incapacitated.

To these ends, several straightforward tools are required:

• A will that describes who should receive which belongings, assets and properties.
• One or more powers of attorney to appoint chosen trusted individuals to make financial or medical decisions on your behalf.
• An advanced healthcare directive to tell doctors and medical professionals (and loved ones) what your wishes might be for end-of-life care and other difficult scenarios.

While these documents are simple enough that you can, theoretically, attempt to prepare them by yourself, doing so is rarely a good idea. Mistakes and errors in any of these, especially a will, can lead to your wishes being ignored or contradicted. Worse still, lengthy and expensive conflicts could erupt among family members during the probate process.

To avoid poisoning your legacy in such a way, or to establish a more intricate or enduring legacy, you should contact an estate planning lawyer here at Stamps at Stamps.

How Can A Stamps & Stamps Estate Planning Lawyer Help You Set Up An Enduring Legacy In Kettering

A will is good enough for some families, but for those who, like Charles Kettering, want to make their mark on either the world or just those they leave behind, more advanced estate planning tools might be more appropriate. As estate planning attorneys with decades of experience, Dana and Eric of Stamps and Stamps know what to avoid (they have litigated too many probate cases already) and what you can do to strengthen your Ohio estate and legacy.

Handle Complex Properties And Assets

Charles Kettering would certainly have needed advanced estate planning tools, if only to deal with the sheer complexity of his estate. If you have large properties or assets in multiple counties and states, even if none of them are as distinctive as the Kettering family home on Ridgeleigh Road, you will want to make sure they are adequately cared for and protected in your estate plan.

Businesses are another complex type of asset that Kettering’s estate planning lawyers must have struggled with, given how many companies, patents, and shares he owned. If you want your businesses to survive you and your relatives, or want them sold to benefit your family and estate, you will need a good lawyer.

Protect Vulnerable Relatives

Some of the relatives you want to care for through gifts may not be in a position to receive them. If you have a loved one with special needs in Ohio, they could lose their federal and state benefits if they receive too much wealth in an inheritance. To avoid this, consult with an estate planning lawyer about establishing a special needs trust to provide for them without jeopardizing their access to benefits and care.

Other relatives may be technically capable of receiving the wealth, but financially irresponsible when it comes to spending it. From gambling to substance abuse, there are many ways money can disappear practically overnight, and it would be a shame to see your legacy be one of harm. With many kinds of trust, money can be left under the supervision of a Trustee, to be shared out slowly, or within specific rules and conditions that you get to decide.

Create Pathways For Intergenerational Wealth

In some cases, you may want to leave wealth behind, not for specific individuals, but for whole generations. You might want to provide for grandchildren who are still minors, or great-grandchildren who have not even been born yet. This kind of long-term legacy is an admirable goal, but complicated or even impossible with a basic will. Only advanced estate planning tools like trusts can allow you to do so while maintaining some degree of control over what will become of that wealth.

Alternatively, like Kettering did here in Ohio, you might decide to leave a large portion of your estate for charitable works. While you are unlikely to have enough to fund an entire cancer research center, you can support causes or churches you believe in, benefiting complete strangers across the generations through your generosity.

Ultimately, what you want to do with your wealth is up to you. Making it happen is why you need us, and shaping your legacy will become part of ours.

Stamps & Stamps | Making Ohio estate planning laws work for you and your legacy

Kettering is full of reminders of one man’s legacy, but they can also become reminders of your responsibilities and wishes for the future. If you haven't yet started on your estate plan, need to update it with new information or goals, or want to take your simple estate plan to the next level, we can help.

Based in Dayton, the law firm of Stamps and Stamps is itself a legacy business, passed down from father to son, with many clients who have come to us for estate planning services after a lifetime of legal aid and counsel.

To become one of them, or to gain the expertise and creative guidance you need for your estate planning situation, call (937) 898-9440 or contact our firm online today.