Twin Cities Estate Planning Lawyers
An Experienced Minnesota Estate Planning Attorney
Step 1: Initial Consultation
Sign up for a free consultation to discuss your goals and create strategies for your estate plan. Attorney Zach Wiegand will give you a recommendation for your estate plan and he will tell you the exact flat fee cost for creating that plan.
Step 3: Final Signing
You will review all of your documents with your attorney and ensure that your plan meets your needs. You will then sign your documents.
Estate Planning is a very personal area of the law. Each individual or family has their own unique needs. Zach Wiegand is a Minnesota estate planning attorney who takes great care in creating an estate plan for your specific situation.
When hiring Zach, you are not just getting someone to draft your will or write your estate plan. You are hiring an experienced counselor who will guide you through the entire estate planning process and raise questions and provide answers that you may not have even considered.
It is critical that you hire an attorney who will listen to your goals and objectives and implement a plan that will work for you and your family. After all, you are hiring an estate planning attorney who will create an estate plan that your family must live with after you are gone.
Our Minnesota Estate Plans typically include:
Free Initial Consultation for Estate Planning
During your free initial consultation, Zach will ask you questions about your family, your assets, and your objectives and concerns about estate planning. Then, Zach will turn the meeting over to you and you can ask any questions that you may have. Once Zach has the proper context to make an estate planning recommendation, he will tell you exactly what you should do and exactly what the cost for your estate plan would be. At that point, you can decide whether you wish to proceed with creating your estate plan.
Flat Fee Estate Planning Services
Zach utilizes state-of-the-art drafting software that allows him to create a Minnesota estate plan that is not only comprehensive, but also uniquely tailored to each individual client’s estate planning needs, all while providing flat fee estate planning services.
While not every client will need, or want, a Revocable Living Trust (also known as a Revocable Trust or just a Living Trust), many clients do decide to create a Revocable Living Trust in order to avoid probate and estate taxes, keep their affairs private after they are gone, and to protect their assets for their beneficiaries from creditors, divorce, and bankruptcy.
Funding Support for Your Trust
It is of utmost importance that you properly fund your revocable living trust. If you do not fund your trust properly, your estate plan may fail you. Zach provides guidance for funding assistance for each of his client’s estate plans. This includes transferring real estate to your trust, assisting with recommendations for beneficiary designations on retirement accounts and life insurance policies, transferring business interests to your revocable trust, and much more.
Having a Minnesota Health Care Directive is the key to preventing your family from having to go to court to decide questions about your health care if you are incapacitated. A valid Health Care Directive is a key component of every Minnesota estate plan.
Having a Minnesota Power of Attorney document in place is very important in case you’re forced to deal with incapacity during your lifetime. If you are in an accident and cannot make legal or financial decisions for yourself, you need a power of attorney document so your family can avoid having to go to court for a Guardianship or Conservatorship.
Asset Protection for Your Beneficiaries
Having a revocable trust does not protect your assets from your own creditors, but creating an estate plan that includes trusts for your kids and grandkids can protect your assets from their creditors, divorce, and bankruptcy proceedings. Most clients choose to include these trusts for their beneficiaries in their estate plan. There is no additional cost for this estate planning option.
Nominate Guardians for Your Minor Children
If you are a young couple with children under the age of 18, it is vital that you choose who will take care of your children if you pass away before your children are adults. Choosing the right guardian for your minor child is one of the most important estate planning decisions a young married couple can make.
Each client receives their comprehensive estate plan in a sturdy, three-ring binder with thoughtfully laid out tabs for each different section. Here are the typical tabs for a revocable trust estate plan:
- Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Overview
- Trust Agreement (if applicable)
- Pour-Over Will (or Will)
- Nominations
- Personal Information
- Funding Instructions
- Power of Attorney
- Certificate of Trust
- Affidavit of Trustee
- Trust Assets
- Health Care (Includes Health Care Directive and HIPAA Waivers)
- Memorial/Burial Instructions
- Personal Effects
- Other Documents Related to Your Estate Plan
Peace of Mind
The purpose of estate planning is to have peace of mind knowing that your family has been taken care of. Whether that means having a Revocable Trust, a Will, or Incapacity Planning (Health Care Directives, Powers of Attorney, and HIPAA Waivers), having an estate plan is the key to making sure your family does not throw away money on legal fees and court costs. Our clients have the peace of mind that comes from knowing that their plan has been handled by one of the top-rated estate planning attorneys in Minnesota.
