During life
Choose people who can step in with clarity.
Financial powers of attorney, medical decision-makers, and advance directives can help express your wishes when you cannot speak for yourself.
Lowenberg Legacy Law
Estate planning is about more than documents.
A will and a trust are documents. An estate plan is a strategy for the people you love, the choices you want respected, and the property you have worked to build.
A useful plan answers two kinds of questions.
One set of questions is about life now: who can act if you cannot, how health-care decisions should be made, and how finances can be managed during a difficult period. The other is about what happens after death: who receives property, who is responsible for administration, and how the people you care about will be supported.
Good planning begins with those questions. It does not begin by filling blanks in a stack of forms, and it does not end when the documents are signed.
After death
Give your property and responsibilities a path forward.
A will, trust, beneficiary designation, and ownership structure can each play a different role in how property and responsibilities are handled.
Implementation
Make sure the plan and the real world match.
Titles, beneficiary designations, account ownership, real estate, business interests, and trusted advisers can affect whether a plan works as intended.
Different documents do different work.
A will can provide instructions for property after death and name a personal representative for a probate estate. A revocable living trust can provide a management framework during life and after death. Neither is a universal substitute for the other.
A financial power of attorney concerns financial authority while a person is alive. A medical durable power of attorney and other advance-directive documents help communicate health-care wishes. Some plans focus on essential documents; others require trusts, blended-family planning, business or succession considerations, multiple properties, or more complex private-client needs.
Implementation is part of the plan.
A carefully written plan may not accomplish what you intended if it is never implemented. Depending on the engagement, implementation may include attention to ownership, beneficiary designations, trust funding, real estate, business interests, and coordination with accountants, financial advisers, and other professionals.
The goal is not simply to sign documents. It is to have a plan that works with the way your property, relationships, and professional advice are actually organized.
A plan should be able to keep up with your life.
Marriage, divorce, a new child, a move, a property purchase, a business change, a serious health event, or a change in the people you trust can all be a reason to review a plan. The same is true when the law or a beneficiary designation changes in a way that matters.
Questions people ask
Planning questions that come up early.
How are a will and a revocable living trust different?
They can serve different roles. A will is used in post-death estate administration and can name a personal representative for a probate estate. A revocable living trust is a separate arrangement for property managed under its terms during life and after death. Ownership, beneficiary designations, family circumstances, and the documents themselves can affect how a particular asset is handled.
What does a financial power of attorney do?
A financial power of attorney can authorize an agent to make property or financial decisions for the person who signed it. It is not a medical decision-making document. The authority given, when it takes effect, how it is used, and whether a third party will accept it depend on the document and current law, so the form should be reviewed in context.
What is a medical durable power of attorney, and is it the only health-care planning document?
A medical durable power of attorney names a health-care agent who can make medical decisions if a person cannot speak for themselves. It is one part of advance-care planning, not a substitute for every health-care choice or conversation. The appropriate documents and wording depend on a person’s circumstances, preferences, and current law.
Why do beneficiary designations and ownership matter?
They can affect how particular property passes at death, so they should be considered with the rest of the plan. Insurance, retirement accounts, payable-on-death or transfer-on-death accounts, joint ownership, deeds, wills, and trusts can work differently. The effect of any one title, designation, or document depends on the asset and the full planning picture.
What is a personal representative, and how is that different from an agent under a power of attorney?
They are different roles. A personal representative is appointed to administer a decedent’s probate estate. A financial power-of-attorney agent is authorized under a document to make property decisions for the person who signed it. Their source of authority, timing, duties, and limits differ, so the plan should use the right term for the role being discussed.
If I have a will, will my estate still need probate?
Possibly. Having a will alone does not answer the probate question. The property involved, how it is titled, whether there are beneficiary designations or survivorship rights, the estate’s value, real estate, and other facts can change the process. Colorado has different probate and small-estate procedures, so a current review is more useful than relying on a broad assumption.
What happens if someone dies without a will in Colorado?
Colorado law identifies heirs for property that passes through an estate when there is no will, but the result depends on the family and property facts. A spouse, descendants, parents, other relatives, ownership arrangements, and beneficiary designations can all matter. Blended-family circumstances and nonprobate assets are especially poor candidates for a one-size-fits-all answer.
When should an estate plan be reviewed?
A review may be worth considering when a change affects the people, property, decision-makers, or documents in the plan. Marriage, divorce, a birth, a death, a move, a property or business change, a health change, or a change in a trusted agent can all create a reason to look again. There is no universal review interval that fits every plan.
Talk to a Human
Start with the people and plans you want to protect.
A conversation can help identify the planning questions that matter most to your family.