Estate Planning
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An estate plan usually incorporates a will and power of attorney, and may include a trust, a community property agreement, and other documents, such as a living will, which in Washington is referred to as an advance directive or health care directive. More specific instructions regarding end of life issues are best expressed in a document which the Washington State Department of Health and State Medical Association have collaboratively standardized, called a “Physicians’ Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment,” or POLST.
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That document is to be completed with the doctor’s assistance, and is completed based upon the patient’s expressed preference.If the patient is unable to express a preference, then the estate planning documents the client has executed are to be used.Many such assets are disposed of by beneficiary designations, and any estate planning work should take into consideration the beneficiary designations which the client has made or may plan to make as to such assets. A good estate plan also takes into account future living expenses, pension benefits, and long term care arrangements, such as insurance.
Since estate planning takes into account a great deal of unique family and financial circumstances, we have developed an estate planning questionnaire which clients should review and attempt to complete before coming in. It is titled estate planning questionnaire and you can click on it, download it, and bring a completed questionnaire in when you meet with the attorney. You do not, however, need to do so in order to meet with the attorney.
Brian Hansen handles all of these matters for clients of Resick Hansen & Follis. In 2008, he was honored for more than 20 years of service as a board member and past president of the Northwest Washington Estate Planning Council.
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