One Financial Services believes in a holistic approach to estate planning. It is all about providing the client with a seamless approach through a thorough review of all assets overlaid with the client’s wishes for disbursement. There are individuals and families who have very simple wishes, and others who have complexities which require the use of advance estate planning techniques

Our approach is to take time with you to explore how all of the options and techniques fit within the priorities you have for the disposition of your assets at your death. This provides us the opportunity to meet everyone involved so, when the time comes, there are no strangers.

Having a will is not legally mandated; however, if you do not have one, you leave your family in a difficult emotional and legal position. At One Financial Services, we strongly recommend our clients prepare a will so their wishes can be carried out and assets distributed as designated.

The Will is only one of the important legal documents we recommend. We also emphasize the importance of a Power of Attorney Document, a Living Will or Advance Healthcare Directive document, and on some occasions, a Physicians Order for Life-Sustaining Treatment.

All (or most) of these are typically drafted by an attorney with Estate Planning expertise and become the foundation of an estate plan.

The expression “Life is what happens while you are making other plans” is a reflection of how often you should update your will. One Financial Services recommends that at a minimum, a will should be reviewed every five to ten years as well as when there are any milestone life changes such as a birth, death, marriage or, major shift in your finances.

Estate planning should start with the basics: Naming a Power of Attorney to act in your behalf if you are incapacitated is an important first step, followed by deciding and designating your beneficiaries. As a One Financial Services client these two steps provide us with a basis from which to begin your estate planning.

The term “estate planning” encompasses many facets of securing your loved ones future from the simple act of ensuring you have named a beneficiary on all your financial accounts, to setting up complex trusts designed to distribute your assets in specific ways.

Protecting those we love is our most natural instinct. It is therefore typical to start an estate plan at the time of your first adult event or transaction. If you buy a home, get married, start a business - all of these are good reasons to meet with an attorney to get started on your estate plan

All your work to provide a comfortable lifestyle and bright future for your family can be threatened by one accident, one illness, one emergency. It is never too soon to ensure your love will live on.

A basic will is just that…basic. It includes simple instructions as to who will receive your assets when you die.

However, your life is likely not basic, it is probably full of all the elements a busy, successful life entails.

Do you own a business? Are you married for the second time? Do you have minor children or grandchildren, or beneficiaries with special needs? If your answer to any of these questions is yes, you need more than a will; you need an estate plan.

Any of these special circumstances should be addressed through an advanced estate plan, one that would incorporate some or all of the following advanced features: Trusts, which may be irrevocable, or revocable, Buy / Sell Agreements, Pre-Nuptial Agreement, or Guardianships for incapacitated persons.

Life is complicated enough, how to protect and distribute your estate, should not be.