A good estate plan is one that accomplishes your goals, upon your disability or death, while leaving you in control while you are alive and well. If your plan takes care of you and your loved ones if you become disabled and enables you to give what you have to whom you want, the way you want and when you want, it has succeeded.

If at some time you become incapacitated, that is, mentally unable to manage your financial affairs due to age or illness, your family may find itself in a difficult position if you have not done the proper planning. If you have not designated someone in a durable power of attorney to handle your financial affairs, your family will need to petition the Probate Court to become your guardian. A guardian then needs to get the Court's approval prior to spending your money on you and also report annually those expenditures. This can be avoided by naming an agent under a Power of Attorney who can then handle all of your financial matters for you, depending on what authority you have given your agent.

Another important document during incapacity is a Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care. This is where you name someone to make your medical decisions for you if you become unable to make them yourself, either temporarily or permanently.

Everything in your name alone, with no joint owner or beneficiary named, will pass through Probate upon your death and be governed by your will. There are many methods to avoid probate – having assets owned jointly with someone, naming a payable on death beneficiary, or having assets owned by your trust. Whether avoiding probate is the best choice for you is dependent upon your family circumstances and your goals.

Proper planning can avoid probate and accomplish all your goals for you and your family.

If you have minor children (under the age of 18), it is critical that you name a guardian for them upon your death. A guardian is a person appointed by the Court to raise your children until they reach the age of majority. You may name anyone you choose as the guardian for your minor children. However, if you do not name someone, the Court is limited on whom it can name, with one important requirement being the guardian must then be an Ohio resident. The only place that a guardian can be named is in your will.

Your estate plan can also provide, however, that any funds your children are inheriting are to be held in trust for them beyond the age of 18. The person named to handle your children's funds is called a trustee. You can give your trustee specific or general directions on how you would like your money spent for your children. You can also decide at what age you would like your children to take over their funds. The trustee can be the same person as the guardian, but need not be.

Whether there will be any federal estate tax payable upon your death depends on the size of your estate, who the beneficiaries are, the law in effect at the time of your death and your estate plan. Be aware that Ohio does have its own independent estate tax, with a current exemption from tax of $338,333. As a married couple as your estate exceeds the federal exemption amount or the Ohio exemption in any significant amount, tax planning becomes important in order to minimize the tax effects upon your heirs.

We often hear a wish by families to protect their children's inheritance from potential creditors or divorces. If that is an important goal for you, trust planning may be the appropriate solution.