Pennsylvania Estate Planning Lawyer & Attorney : Jakubik Law Firm : Serving Philadelphia, Chestnut Hill, Mt. Airy

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This article is really a cut above most "you need to have an estate plan" articles -- good use of detail and examples.

One part I wanted to focus on:

In event of your disability, give someone you trust the power to manage your property. It's called a power of attorney (although the person doesn't have to be an attorney).

But there's a problem: Some financial institutions won't accept powers of attorney created more than six months before. You're unlikely to renew a power of attorney this frequently. For a better solution, ask an estate planning attorney to draft a living trust for you. (The cost is probably $1,500 to $3,000.) The ownership of all your property is changed from your name to the trust's name. As the sole trustee, you can do anything you like with the property.

But if you become disabled, a person named in your trust steps in as successor trustee to manage the property on your behalf and for your benefit. All financial institutions accept this, no matter when the trust was written.

I haven't had a problem getting "old" powers of attorney (done in the last 5 years) accepted by financial institutions, but a living trust really works better than a property power of attorney in the case of disability. Or, rather, I should say that a fully funded living trust works better. If you transfer ownership and change beneficiary designations to your living trust and then become disabled, your successor trustee really can step right in and handle your property for your benefit. If you set up a living trust but don't fund it, and then become disabled, your property power of attorney can (hopefully) be used to fund your living trust at that time. I always include specific language allowing an agent under a property power of attorney to take care of this funding.

And, of course, a health care power of attorney is very important as well.

Let me put it simply: If you become disabled, having a fully funded living trust and powers of attorney will save you and your family a lot of time and money.