At Moore Legacy Law, estate planning begins with a strategy and ends with a set of documents that ensure your assets go where and how you want them to when you pass away and/or if you become incapacitated.

Our estate plans determine:

· Who and what resources will take care of you if you become incapacitated/unable to care for yourself
· Who you want to take care of your minor children in your absence and who will control their finances
· How you would like your funeral or celebration of life to play out and what you’d like done with your remains
· How your various assets will be divided and to whom

Everyone needs an estate plan to ensure their assets are distributed according to their wishes upon death and to remove some of this burden from their loved ones.

Additionally, everyone needs to identify the people and the resources that will be used to take care of them if they can no longer take care of themselves (are incapacitated). Otherwise, this burden will also fall onto loved ones.

Finally, it is critical that parents have an estate plan in place to protect and support their children in the parents’ absences or incapacity.

A will is the series of instructions you leave for your loved ones and the probate court on how to handle your assets when you die. It is one document within an “estate plan.”

Your will allows you to designate who you want to represent your estate during the probate process and to whom your assets should be distributed at your death. This includes:

· Designating a guardian for your minor children
· Identifying your heirs
· Designating your Personal Representative to handle the process of administrating the estate
· Identifying exactly how you want your assets to be distributed, including instructions for paying third parties and taxes
· Establishing how you would like your remains disposed of: cremation or burial

Your will is filed with the probate court to be used upon your death. Your will does not control any distribution of your assets during your lifetime or if you become incapacitated.

At Moore Legacy Law, your estate plan is less about completing a draft of the document and more about helping you understand your options, how they work together, and whether there are more efficient ways to distribute your assets at your death, such as putting your assets into a trust to avoid probate court.

A will does not avoid probate court. Probate court eats up a lot of time and money. To avoid your estate being probated upon your death, you need a trust-based estate plan.

Legal fees vary by the value of the property being probated and the complexity of administration. Moore Legacy Law’s fees typically range from 2% to 7% of the value of the property being probated. The more valuable the estate is, the lower the costs are likely to be as a percentage of the estate.

Moore Legacy Law is unique in that we invest in our clients upfront. We take the time to understand your case and provide an early estimate to avoid surprises down the line.

Other costs include court costs, filing fees, publication fees, settlement fees, and bond premiums. They vary by county but typically range from $500 to $1,000.

Finally, the Personal Representative is entitled to a fee for their services. In Missouri, that fee is calculated according to the following schedule:

On the first $5,000, 5 percent
On the next $20,000, 4 percent
On the next $75,000, 3 percent
On the next $300,000, 2 3/4 percent
On the next $600,000, 2 1/2 percent
On all over $1,000,000, 2 percent

There are some tools that allow you to avoid probate upon your death. These include a trust-based estate plan and Non-probate transfer designations. Moore Legacy Law will help you assess your assets and determine which tools make the most sense to ensure that your assets are not subject to probate upon your death.