Estate Planning

Wichita Estate Planning Attorney

Helping You Put the Right Plan in Place for Your Family

Most people know they should have an estate plan. The harder part is knowing what that plan should actually include.

Do you need a will or a trust? Who would handle your finances if you could not? Who should make medical decisions for you? What happens to your children if something happens to both parents?

That is exactly what we are here to help you with! At the Law Office of Andrew Rowe, P.A., we help Wichita families answer those questions and put the right legal documents in place. Our goal is to make estate planning understandable, practical, and a lot less intimidating than people expect.

From our office near downtown Wichita on N. Waco Avenue, we work with individuals and families throughout Riverside, Delano, College Hill, Eastborough, west Wichita, the Rock Road corridor, and surrounding communities.

What Does an Estate Plan Do?

Estate planning is about more than deciding who receives your property after you die. A good plan also addresses what happens if you become seriously ill or unable to make decisions for yourself.

Depending on your family and circumstances, an estate plan can:

  • Direct how your property should be distributed
  • Name people you trust to handle important decisions
  • Document your wishes for medical care
  • Nominate guardians for minor children
  • Provide a structure for managing assets
  • Help reduce unnecessary confusion for your family later

You do not need to know which documents you need before meeting with us. Figuring that out is part of the process.

Our Wichita, KS Estate Planning Services

Estate plans often include several documents that work together. We can help you understand which of the following may belong in yours.

  • Wills: A will lets you state who should receive your property, name someone to handle your estate, and nominate guardians for minor children.
  • Trusts: The most common estate planning tool our clients tend to choose. A trust can provide additional control over how assets are managed during your lifetime and distributed after your death. Trusts can also help certain property pass outside of probate when properly created and funded.
  • Advance Directives & Living Wills: Advance directives allow you to document important preferences about medical treatment and end-of-life care so your family and health care providers have clearer instructions.
  • Durable Power of Attorney: A durable power of attorney allows you to choose someone you trust to handle certain financial and legal matters if you become unable to manage them yourself.
  • HIPAA Release: A HIPAA release authorizes the people you choose to receive medical information that may be important during an illness or emergency.
  • Health Care Proxy: A health care proxy, or health care power of attorney, allows you to name someone to make medical decisions for you if you are unable to communicate or make those decisions yourself.
  • Guardians for Children: Parents can use their estate plans to formally nominate the people they would want caring for their minor children if both parents were unable to do so.
  • Charitable Planning: If supporting a church, nonprofit, school, or another cause is important to you, charitable planning can help incorporate those goals into your broader estate plan.

 

Estate Planning for Wichita, KS Families

Estate planning is not just for retirees or people with enormous estates. It is to get ahead of the state choosing where your property will go and avoid the confusion of the default processes established by the state.

We work with young families buying homes around Wichita, parents raising children, business owners, people approaching retirement about to take the long awaited big vacation, and families caring for loved ones with disabilities. 

You may have a relatively simple plan. You may need a trust and several supporting documents. What matters is that your plan reflects your actual family, property, and priorities.

We will explain the options without turning your appointment into a law school lecture.

Planning for Problems Your Family May Never See

One of our core values is invisible impact.

Some of the best estate planning work happens quietly. It is the question your children never have to argue about because you already answered it. The medical decision is easier because you named the right person. The unnecessary complication that never happens because your documents were prepared correctly.

Your family should never know how many problems your estate plan prevented.

When Should You Review Your Estate Plan?

If you don’t already have an estate plan, putting one together is essential. Especially important after major life changes, including marriage, divorce, having a child, buying a home, starting a business, receiving an inheritance, or approaching retirement.

Existing plans should also be reviewed periodically. Your family changes. Your assets change.  The people you trust may change too. And, whether we like it or not, the law changes as well.

Your estate plan should still make sense for the life you are living today.

Start or Update Your Estate Plan With a Wichita, KS Estate Planning Lawyer

You do not need to arrive knowing whether you need a will, trust, power of attorney, or another document.

Start with the questions. We will help with the rest.

At the Law Office of Andrew Rowe, P.A., we help Wichita families create estate plans designed to work when the people they love actually need them.

Call (316) 330-4110 or contact our office to schedule a consultation with a Wichita estate planning attorney and get your plan in place.

 

Disclaimer: This page contains general information about Kansas law, not legal advice, and reading it doesn’t create an attorney-client relationship. Every estate is different; for guidance on your specific situation, talk with a licensed Kansas attorney.