(316) 202-0131
The answer depends on your family, your property, and what you want to happen if you can no longer make decisions for yourself. A young family in east Wichita may be thinking about guardians and life insurance. A business owner may be more concerned about succession and keeping things organized. Someone nearing retirement may be looking at trusts, beneficiary designations, and how to make things easier for their children.
At The Law Office of Andrew Rowe, we help Wichita families put those pieces together into one plan that makes sense.
1. Last Will and Testament
A will explains how certain property should be distributed after your death. It can also name the person you want handling your estate and, for parents, identify who you would want caring for minor children.
Without a valid will, Kansas law determines how property passing through your probate estate is distributed. A will is an important foundation, but it does not automatically keep your estate out of probate. That is one reason we look at the full plan rather than treating the will as the only document that matters.
2. Durable Power of Attorney
A durable power of attorney allows you to choose someone to handle certain financial and legal matters if you cannot handle them yourself.
That could mean paying bills, managing accounts, dealing with property, or handling other important responsibilities after an illness or injury. For many Wichita families, this is less about planning for death and more about making sure someone can step in if life takes an unexpected turn.
3. Healthcare Decision-Making Documents
Your estate plan should also address what happens if you cannot make or communicate your own healthcare decisions.
The appropriate documents can allow you to identify someone you trust to make decisions and provide written guidance about your wishes. That can take a lot of uncertainty off your family during a difficult moment.
4. Living Will or Advance Directive
A living will allows you to document certain wishes about medical treatment and end-of-life care.
These are not easy decisions to think about, but they can be even harder for your spouse, children, or other loved ones to make without knowing what you would have wanted. Putting those wishes in writing gives them something clear to follow.
5. A Trust
For many Kansas families, a trust will make sense as part of the estate plan.
A revocable living trust can help organize how assets are managed during your lifetime, provide continuity if you become incapacitated, and allow properly funded trust assets to pass outside of probate. It can also give you more control over how and when property is distributed to the people you care about.
Don’t Forget Beneficiary Designations
Some important estate planning decisions happen outside your will or trust.
Life insurance policies, retirement accounts, and certain other assets can pass according to beneficiary designations. If those designations are outdated, they may produce a result that does not match the rest of your plan.
That is why we look at the whole picture. A group of individual documents is not very useful if they do not work together.
Your Estate Plan Should Change With Your Life
Maybe you just bought a home near the west side, had a child, started a business, or are getting closer to retirement. Maybe your children are grown and the plan you signed years ago no longer reflects your family. Those are all good reasons to take another look.
Our approach is to help everyday Wichita families catch the issues that are easy to miss now, so their loved ones are less likely to deal with them later.
Start With a Wichita Estate Planning Attorney
You do not need to know ahead of time whether you need a will, trust, power of attorney, or something else. That is part of the process.
The Law Office of Andrew Rowe helps Wichita families understand their options, make the necessary decisions, and put a complete estate plan in place that is designed to work when it is needed.
Schedule a meeting with our Wichita estate planning team to get started.
