Everyone needs a Will but no one wants to think about it. Taking the time to make your wishes known in advance, is one of the most loving things you can do for family and friends, who will be grieving your loss one day. Name a legal guardian for your minor children, make specific bequests of items of personal property (i.e., jewelry, watches, collections), and choose who gets what. If you die without a will, Ohio law decides. NOTE: a Will does not avoid probate. An attorney can advise you as to how to protect your assets from probate. One method is the Revocable Living Trust.

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If you believe a Will protects your family from the public, lengthy and expensive probate court process, then you are wrong. If you want your family to have privacy and instant access to their inheritance without paying probate fees or waiting for the court process, you need to speak with an attorney about a Revocable Living Trust.

Parents: Consider this, if you have provided for your children through retirement assets or life insurance, and your children inherit this money at the age of 18 - can you be sure they will manage it properly?  A Revocable Living Trust can protect them from themselves long after you are gone.

More information on Revocable Living Trusts

A person can become incapacitated due to an accident, stroke, heart attack, etc. Name someone to pay your mortgage and handle your financial affairs if you become incapacitated. Even if you just want to name your spouse, a Durable Power of Attorney is necessary for some types of accounts. Give a trusted agent the ability to handle your affairs until you are well enough to handle them again yourself.

When we are unable to make healthcare decisions for ourselves, some would rather put the ultimate decision in the hands of a physican, rather than a family member. Some choose this option in order to protect a family member from the burden of making that end-of-life decision. Others simply do not have a friend or family member that they would trust with that decision. A Living Will lists friends and family that you want a hospital to contact, but gives the ultimate decision-making authority to two physicians who have examined you, and agree that you are permanently unconscious.