Wills And Trusts Attorneys In Salt Lake City, Utah

A thoughtful estate plan names who inherits your property, who raises your children, and who acts for you if illness leaves you unable to decide. Without clear documents, Utah law makes those choices for you, often through public probate court on a schedule your family cannot influence.

At Scalley Reading Bates Hansen & Rasmussen, P.C., our attorneys build estate plans that fit your assets, your family and your wishes.

Methods To Avoid Probate

A revocable living trust holds property you transfer into it during your lifetime and directs those assets to your beneficiaries without having to go through probate. You retain the right to amend or revoke it while you have capacity.

To avoid probate through the trust, you must properly fund it by transferring assets into it. Property left outside of it does not receive that benefit unless another nonprobate transfer applies. Our firm brings the skill of a living trust attorney and genuine knowledge of Salt Lake City and local Utah courts.

Decisions That Protect Your Family

A will helps you make key decisions about your family and your property. A complete estate plan addresses the following matters:

• Guardianship: You nominate a guardian for your children, providing clear legal guidance to the judge who confirms the final appointment.
• Beneficiary designations: You align retirement accounts and life insurance with your plan.
• Specific gifts: You direct particular property to the people or charities you choose.

Assets with beneficiary designations generally pass to the named beneficiaries rather than under the terms of your will. That means a designation on a retirement account or life insurance policy can control the transfer even if your will gives different instructions.

Protecting Assets That You Have Built

An irrevocable trust can place assets under terms that limit your ability to reclaim or freely control them. Depending on how the trust is structured, it may help protect certain property from future creditor claims, preserve assets for beneficiaries or support federal estate tax planning.

That protection comes with less flexibility than a revocable trust because changing the terms or recovering transferred property can be difficult.

Planning For Decisions During Incapacity

Estate planning should address who can act for you during incapacity, not only what happens after death. Several documents and appointments can put that authority in place:

• Financial power of attorney
• Healthcare agent
• Healthcare instructions

In Utah, an advance healthcare directive can combine that appointment with your written instructions in one document.

Put Your Estate Plan In Place

Your will, trusts and incapacity documents should reflect the decisions you want made for your family and property. Call Scalley Reading Bates Hansen & Rasmussen, P.C., at 866-471-0614 or send us a message to discuss your estate plan with our attorneys.