Estate planning allows you to plan for your lifetime goals and to provide direction about what happens to your assets in the event of disability or incapacity, and also after death.  Estate planning may include drafting documents such as wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and/or healthcare directives (i.e. living wills), that protect you and your loved ones against future conflicts.  Estate planning is impacted by state and federal law, and there can be important tax issues involved. 

A little bit of planning can prevent a whole lot of stress down the road for you and your family:

• Wills
• Durable Powers of Attorney (for general and specific purposes)
• Durable Powers of Attorney for Healthcare
• Living Wills
• Trusts

Probate administration is basically the process where the court transfers title to your property into the names of either your named beneficiaries (if you died with a will) or your heirs according to Tennessee law (if you died without a will).  Not every estate must pass through the probate process.  Generally speaking, for individuals who died and did NOT own any property in his or her own name, that estate will not go through the probate process.  The probate process involves: 

• Advising your family on how the probate process will unfold for handling the estate of your loved one, and working with the executor of the estate;
• Filing documents to conclude the financial affairs of your loved one;
• Handling estate claims and dealing with will-contest litigation;
• Administering the passing of the estate, including the filing of accountings and inventories, and working in tandem with your accountant if necessary.

Conservatorships and Guardianships may be created to ensure court-ordered protections for a disabled or incapacitated person (conservatorship), protecting the person and/or property of that person, and also to protect minors in certain situations (guardianship).

• Conservatorships
• Guardianships 

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The Law Office of Bryan Stephenson
Bank of America Plaza, Suite 905, 414 Union St., Nashville, TN 37219
Phone: 615.515.5110  Fax: 615.620.6438  
bryanstephenson@middletnlaw.com