Handling Estate Planning after Divorce
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by: branson23
Word Count: 443
Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2011 Time: 6:53 AM
If you think that the finalization of your divorce is the last stage of the matter, you need to brush up on your knowledge on this. Usually, this leads to other legal matters, especially those concerning your estate planning. You would need to handle numerous tasks – home refinancing, re-titling of assets, dividing retirement assets, and such others.
Here is a checklist of the areas you would need to pay attention to at this stage. While some of these are easy to handle, some require legal help. Getting a competent family law lawyer can be a necessity in this regard.
Amending beneficiary designations for life insurance, employer retirement plans, annuities, individual retirement accounts, and health savings accounts – is comparatively easier. All you need to do is get the right forms, fill these and file these. This applies to Transfer on Death (investment) and Payable on Death (bank) accounts.
Amending powers of attorney, wills, and health care documents – requires expertise inn the estate planning aspect of family laws. In-depth knowledge of the Texas laws pertaining to the matter is imperative. Do not neglect this task; these documents are a determining factor affecting the future of your finances.
Eliminating your ex-spouse from living trusts – may be a more complex matter. You may need to amend the powers of the beneficiaries and/or trustees. Advanced estate planning techniques, e.g. irrevocable trusts, may be even more complex. You need to get in touch with a Dallas family law lawyer to handle these issues.
As you can very well understand, the finalization of your divorce does not imply that legal issues are gone. You are on the threshold of a new beginning. Ensuring proper protection of your assets in this post-divorce period is essential as it could help ascertain your financial security.
Getting qualified and experienced legal counsel is important to handle these tasks. While a lawyer knows which elements of estate-planning need amendments due to your divorce, you may have no clear idea about the same. Moreover, your lawyer has experience in dealing with such post-divorce estate planning and knows the way to approach it.
Apart from qualification and experience, be sure to get a family law lawyer who has expertise in the field of estate planning. Do not go by ads; opt for a lawyer with a good reputation and a number of satisfied clients. Ask client testimonials and crosscheck these to assess this before appointing a lawyer.
About the Author
Richard Branson, a legal journalist, offers helpful details for legal issues concerning the divorce and estate planning laws. If you are looking for a Dallas Family Law Lawyer, he suggests you to visit http://www.dallasdivorcelawyer.com/.
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