Wills:
A Will is a legal document that describes how the assets of a person should be distributed upon death. In addition, Wills can be used to name guardians over minor children, and to give guidance as to where the children will live and how their assets will be controlled. 'Living Will' or 'Medical Power of Attorney' or 'Advance Health Care Directive':
These documents are different than a Will and have a different purpose. The purpose of this type of will is to make health care decisions in the event that one becomes incapacitated and is unable to make these decisions for him or herself. Please refer to our 'Powers of Attorney' document.
Even though Wills, with Legal Action Workshop, are inexpensive, they do NOT avoid the Probate process. Only a Living Trust can do that! For more information on a Living Trust, please refer to our 'Trust' document.
Trusts, Living Trusts, or Revocable Trusts:
A Trust avoids the substantial cost and time of a Probate. A Trust allows the property of a deceased person to be transferred to those entitled to receive the assets in a manner of days or weeks.
Another name for a Trust is a
LIVING TRUST or a
REVOCABLE TRUST. Both of these Trusts will avoid Probate. A Revocable Trust allows you to amend or terminate the Trust at any time you choose.
Without a Trust, the transfer of property can take months or even years. If the estate has a gross value of as little as $100,000, the Probate costs can be approximately $4,700. If the estate is worth $500,000, the Probate costs can be as much as $14,000.
Powers of Attorney:
A MEDICAL POWER OF ATTORNEY IS ALSO CALLED: 'LIVING WILL', or 'ADVANCE HEALTH CARE DIRECTIVE'.
There are
two types of Powers of Attorney: One is for
financial decisions and the other is for
medical decisions. Powers of Attorney are needed to ensure that someone is designated to handle your health and financial affairs if you are unable to make these decisions yourself due, in most cases, to being incapacitated. With regard to health matters, you can decide how you wish to be treated once you are ill or require life support. As an example, if you choose to not be kept alive by life support you can designate this in the Helath Power of Attorney. You can also make health decisions as to medical treatment and care. With regard to financial decisions, you can stipulate who should handle your assets and take care of your financial needs.
The Fight Over Terri Shiavo's Right to Die Could Have Been Avoided---Here's How!
The Florida story of the Shiavo family who was torn apart because their incapacitated daughter did not have a 'Living Will' or 'Medical Powers of Attorney' or 'Advance Health Care Directive' galvanized the nation. These documents would have allowed Terri's wishes as to medical treatment and 'end of life' decisions to be known in the event that she would become incapacitated. Without this document, confusion over her real wishes ensued. In California we call this medical Power of Attorney document an 'Advance Healthcare Directive'. This is an inexpensive and definitive way to make your wishes known to all!
Avoid confusion--have a Legal Action Workshop Attorney prepare your own Advance Health Care Directive--and be assured that your wishes will be followed!
Transfer Deeds
We do the preparation and recording of various kinds of deeds. The LEGAL ACTION WORKSHOP price is $150.
Name Changes
We do family, adult and minor name changes.
Answers to some Lawsuits
We do answers to civil lawsuits with limited jurisdiction (under $25,000). We also do some answers to lawsuits with unlimited jurisdiction (above $25,000). You would need a conference with the attorney to determine whether the answer with unlimited jurisdiction can be done.