Your Estate Planning Rights | Use or Lose Them | Attorney Patricia A. Rudder

“I know my rights!” Patricia A. Rudder has heard this modern mantra for years. It is a phrase we all like to be able to use if a struggle ensues with a legal or financial institution. Knowing your rights is great, agrees Patricia A. Rudder, but there is something just as important that is often over looked. Patricia A. Rudder reminds us that if you don’t use your rights, you may lose your rights.

Lawyers and governments get a bad rap, opines Patricia A. Rudder. But she goes on to remind us that many laws were written and passed to protect ordinary citizens like ourselves. It is as much of a crime when we do not make ourselves aware of the rights these laws give us. By not taking advantage of our rights, continues Patricia A. Rudder, we are essentially giving them up. A legal field where this problem of neglected rights is prevalent is in the arena of estate planning, trusts, wills, and various forms of inheritance.

Any lawyer with estate planning experience, like Patricia A. Rudder, can help set up a network of legal documents to secure wealth and make sure it passes on to the people you want to receive it. Patricia A. Rudder finds it surprising how few people take advantage of this brilliant legal strategy during their lifetime, leaving their heirs to try and guess the wishes of their dearly departed.

Patricia A. Rudder thinks that it would help to dispense some information about probate law. Probate, explains Patricia A. Rudder, is the way the government distributes the property of the deceased according to its own rules. Probate makes no considerations for the wishes of the deceased. Probate, informs Patricia A. Rudder, divides up your property when you die, however the official sees fit, and government takes a heavy tax from your estate for doing the favor of meddling in your affairs. Patricia A. Rudder asserts that if more people knew that the state takes as much as ten percent of your assets during probate, droves of people would hurry to an estate-planning lawyer for the proper documents to prevent that happening to their heirs.

Patricia A Rudder has learned that many people procrastinate when it comes to estate planning. They say they will deal with it when they are older. They do not want to think about death, so they do not take the time to secure assets they’ve worked so hard for in life. When people put off estate planning until they get older, says Patricia A. Rudder, they are ignoring the uncertainty inherent in life. This leaves the door wide open for probate.

No one would own a car without insurance, says Patricia A. Rudder. Consumers buy all kinds of insurance to protect health, home, and business. Patricia A. Rudder urges her clients to think of their will in the same light.  Thinking of estate planning as a form of insurance, says Patricia A. Rudder. This will hopefully give you a perspective on just how important it is to make sure property is distributed according to your wishes after you are gone.