Estate Planning FAQ

Estate Planning is the process of having various documents drafted and signed by an individual to provide guidance on how the person’s affairs should be handled upon the person’s death or if the person becomes incapacitated and unable to handle the person’s own affairs. A basic Estate Plan will include a Power of Attorney, Advanced Directive for Health Care, and a Last Will and Testament.

A Power of Attorney is a written document used by an individual to appoint another person to act on the person's behalf to make financial decisions. A Power of Attorney can be limited or be extremely broad depending on the desires of the person making the appointment.

An Attorney-in-Fact is the person appointed in a Power of Attorney to act on behalf of a person pertaining to financial issues.

An Advanced Directive for Health Care is a written document used by an individual to appoint another person to act on the person’s behalf to make health care decisions. The directive will include life prolonging procedures the person desires or does not want.  

A Health Care Representative is a person appointed by another person through an Advanced Directive for Health Care to make decisions pertaining to health care when the appointing person becomes unable to make the decisions.

A Will or Last Will and Testament is a written document used by an individual to nominate who will be in charge of the person’s estate when the person passes and who shall receive the assets or property of the person’s estate.

A Trust is a written agreement creating a way for property to be held for the benefit of another person or a group of people. A Trust can be revocable or irrevocable. A Trust can be created while a person is living or may be created through a person’s Will upon their death. A Trust can be considered its own entity.

  An Irrevocable Trust is designed not to be changed once it has been signed by the person creating and funding the Trust.

A Revocable Trust can be changed after it has been signed. A Revocable Trust can be changed by the person who created it or any other person given the power to change the Trust through the wording or terms of the Trust.

A Grantor is the person who creates a Trust. The person may also be referred to as Settlor or Trustor. 

A Trustee is a person or organization that holds the property of the Trust for the benefit of the Beneficiaries of the Trust. A Trustee is responsible for all the property owned in the name of the Trust. A Trustee has a duty to the Grantor and to the beneficiaries.

A Beneficiary is the person named in a Last Will and Testament who is to receive a distribution. A Beneficiary may be referred to as a legatee, devisee, or heir at law. A Beneficiary can also be the person named to benefit from property owned by a Trust.