Sharline S. Green, P.C.

A basic estate plan includes three types of documents: a will, a power of attorney, and advance healthcare directive. Click here to read more: https://posts.gle/465qWz

I’m actually confronted with this question, or some variation of it, on a regular basis. Many of my potential clients with small estates believe that estate planning is not for them. But the reality is that every adult can benefit from having an estate plan, regardless of your net worth. Click here to read more: https://posts.gle/Uqb7ys

When I have clients that are wanting to put off planning for one reason or another, I always remind them that there is no time like the present to protect and provide for the ones you love, and although it is difficult to think about, we all can become sick or die suddenly or unexpectedly, and we owe it to ourselves and our families to plan for these times. Click here to read more: https://posts.gle/75VBto

A revocable living trust is a legal agreement in which you the (trustor, grantor, or settlor) transfer title and management of your assets to a trustee whom you designate (usually you are the trustee as well), while you retain the benefit of the assets as long as you are alive –so you can still use, spend, add, or change the assets as you wish. Click here to read more: https://posts.gle/cnoUYR

A living trust is a legal arrangement that is effective immediately upon signing, where you convey your property and assets to the trust, while you are still “living” and the trustee of the trust will hold title to those assets as long as it exists. Since you are usually the trustee of your trust during your lifetime, you will continue to control and manage all of your assets. Click here to read more: https://posts.gle/8J2zqN

A Power of Attorney grants permission to another individual, known as an agent or attorney-in-fact, to act and make decisions on your behalf, while you are living. The power of attorney can be used for financial matters, medical decisions, or any other legal decision you may need to make. This is especially helpful if you become ill or injured and cannot make your own decisions. Your agent can handle things for you such as paying your bills, managing your investments, buying and selling your home, and legally handling all other financial matters for you. It’s possible to set up a Power of Attorney that is always in effect from the moment it is signed, and there are also “springing” Power of Attorneys, which are only operable with a doctor’s certification that you are totally incapacitated and unable to make decisions for yourself. The Power of Attorney document can provide you peace of mind in knowing that someone you trust will be able to make decisions for you if needed.

The Georgia Advance Directive for Health Care, is a document that allows you to designate your healthcare agents (individuals who will carry out your medical wishes), and it also turns your health care wishes into legally binding directives. Click here to read more: https://posts.gle/WueDA1

The first thing to keep in mind is that there is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. An attorney will need to know about your specific situation in order to give you the best advice. Click here to read more: https://posts.gle/Hhq2hv

Without Estate Planning documents (a Will or Trust, the POA, the GAD), the law (Georgia law) will decide how your assets are distributed, and who will make some of the most important decisions that will affect your life and estate. For example, your spouse can make medical decisions on your behalf if you are in the hospital and are unable to do so yourself (up to pulling the plug), even if you’ve been separated and contemplating divorce, because they’re still your spouse. Click here to read more: https://posts.gle/Du13YE

Let me start off my saying that not all changes require an amendment to your Will or your Trust. An amendment to a Will is known as a Codicil. You should contact an experienced estate planning attorney and explain the changes you would like to make so you can receive proper guidance. And you should NEVER cross-out, white-out, or write on your original Will or Trust. Click here to read more: https://posts.gle/4MrL4D

Yes, a divorce can negatively impact your estate plan, so it is important that if you are divorced, you update your estate plan as quickly as possible. Click here to read more: https://posts.gle/mH4d4M

It is of critical importance that parents of minor children plan for the future. Decisions will have to be made regarding who will raise minor children and manage their financial affairs if the parents are incapacitated or pass away, and if the parents have not made these decisions, prior to something catastrophic happening then a probate judge will make these important decisions for them. Click here to read more: https://posts.gle/B53wnu

It is important to note that the administrator or executor of an estate will need to continue to pay the property taxes on property held in an estate to avoid losing the property to the county for failure to pay the property taxes. Once the property is transferred out of the estate to the heirs of the estate or the beneficiaries of the Last Will and Testament or a Trust, the estate heirs or beneficiaries will take over the payment of the property taxes on the property. If the property will be the primary residence of the heir or beneficiary, he or she can apply for homestead exemption, or any other applicable exemption, by the application deadline that year, so that they can receive any reduction in property taxes they may be entitled to.

The answer to this question is No. Once you sign your estate planning documents, they cannot be changed unless you execute a new set of estate planning documents. In order to execute new estate planning documents, you must have the same sound mental capacity you had in the first place when you executed your first set of documents. This is because the law requires that an individual know what they are doing when they put together their estate plan and sign their estate planning documents, and if they want to make changes to their plan, they also have to know what they are doing. If you become mentally incapacitated (diagnosed with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease) after creating your plan and executing your estate planning documents, you will not be able to change your estate plan. This is done to protect you from manipulation once you are no longer of sound mind.

It is always a good idea to make your wishes known, even if you are not sure what those wishes are yet. It may help to consider what you do NOT want to happen after you pass or become incapacitated and work backwards from there. For instance, if you do not want your children to go through a court guardianship proceeding or have to be temporarily placed in foster care, it will be important to appoint guardians of your own choosing. Or if you do not want assets passing to your children until they are an age where they can responsibly manage their own financial affairs, then it will be important for you to put their inheritance in a trust and appoint a trustee to manage those assets for your children until the designated time. Sometimes, the process of thinking about what you don’t want will help you get clear on what you do want, and My office is happy to help guide you along the process.

One of the most important things to remember when creating your estate plan is that you can exclude anyone you like from inheriting your property and assets. Click here to read more: https://posts.gle/TEcxwT

Your spouse will not automatically get what you have when you die, unless your assets are titled or owned in a way such that ownership transfers automatically to your spouse upon your death by operation of law or the assets become the property of your spouse upon your death through beneficiary designation. Click here to read more: https://posts.gle/KY5uwa

A great place to get started with estate planning is to get financially organized. Before we can chart a clear path to the end and beyond, we need to know where we're beginning. Click here to read more: https://posts.gle/X9h45L

Yes. Your adopted children have a legal right to inherit from you, as their adopted parents, in the same way as your natural born children do. Upon adoption the legal ties between your adopted children and their biological parents were severed so they cannot automatically inherit from their biological parents, but they will inherit from your estate as their adoptive parents when you pass away through the laws of intestate, Georgia's laws that determine who receives your estate when you die without a will or trust. Under these laws, all of your children, natural born and adopted, will be treated the same and will receive an equal portion of your estate. It is also critically important to name guardians, trustees, and create a financial plan for your minor adopted children's financial future. If you prefer that all of your children do not receive an equal share or you choose not to provide for one of your children, it will be necessary to clearly state that in your will or trust.

Our children are our greatest legacy and the most valuable assets. Click here to read more: https://posts.gle/Z2KtiM

A kid's trust is a useful tool in planning for and protecting your child's financial future. The trust is used to leave money, real property and other assets for the benefit of your minor children or other young relatives to be managed by a trustee of your choosing until the age you feel your children will be responsible enough to manage their own financial affairs. While the kids' trust exists the trustee is responsible for making distributions from the trust according to the instructions you left in the trust agreement. This usually includes using the funds from the trust for the minor's health, education, maintenance support, and any other purpose that is outlined in the trust agreement. And while the trust exists, the trust is protected from creditors making this the most secure way to transfer your wealth to the next generation.

A legacy binder is a storage system for your important personal and financial documents that can be extremely useful if something were to happen to you. It will make it much easier for your loved ones to find and manage your assets and affairs if you were to become incapacitated or pass away. The binder can be a physical binder, electronic, or both, and can be stored in a fireproof home safe, a financial institution's safe deposit box, or in a secure cloud-based stored system such as Dropbox, Google Drive, or iCloud. Your legacy binders should include your estate planning documents such as your will or trust, your powers of attorney, advanced directives, tax returns, bank statements, investment account statements, life insurance policy statements, retirement account statements, and other important documents such as the titles of your home and your car. Once you've created the binder, you should let your loved ones know where and how they can access your binder.

Heirs’ property is property that is passed down from generation to generation, usually by the laws of intestacy, or through distributions done in accordance with a will or trust. As the property is passed down, the number of descendant owners in each successive generation gets larger and larger. One of the biggest issues with heirs' proprety happens when the estate was never administered. The property then stays titled in the deceased person’s estate, causing the property to have unmarketable title. Until the the estate issues are handled the property cannot be sold or transferred because of a lack of clear title.

If you have a loved one with a disability, you are likely accustomed to making special preparations for their care on a regular basis. And it is critically important that you take the time to create a plan for their care if something were to happen to you. One of the ways that you can do this is by setting up a special needs trust. Click here to read more: https://posts.gle/hQNhbY