Oklahoma City Estate Planning Attorney

What Is Estate Planning?

Many people mistakenly believe Estate Planning is only for the elderly or the wealthy. Not true! Everyone needs Estate Planning, because everyone has an “estate.”

Your estate includes everything you own, from personal property (clothes, furniture, cars) to insurance policies to real estate (your home, oil & gas interests, etc.), and maybe even a business that you own.

Who Needs Estate Planning?

Who should plan their estate? Again, well, everyone! Estate Planning is how you go about protecting and benefiting the ones that you love. It's the way that you ensure that things get done the way that you wish, even if you are no longer around to watch over those things.

A thorough and comprehensive Estate Plan need not be complicated or expensive in order to achieve your goals. Sure, a person with a great deal of assets, high net worth, a business, or other complex issues might very well need a more extensive estate plan. But everyone is different, so a well-designed plan will need to be “custom-fit” for your needs.

The Attorneys at McBride & Associates will help you design a thorough and comprehensive Estate Plan that is perfect for you and your family.

Contact us today to start on your estate plan.

What Are the Benefits of Estate Planning?

The most important benefit of a good Estate Plan is to allow you to remain in control. Your Plan allows you to decide who will be your fiduciaries (the persons who handle your estate) and beneficiaries (who will receive your estate assets).

If you don't have a good estate plan when you become incapacitated or pass away, Oklahoma law (not you!) will determine who and how things will be handled. While Oklahoma law provides a marginally adequate set of rules to handle your affairs, there are problems.

Our state laws will serve as a sort of default of how and when your affairs will be handled, if you don't ever write down your wishes in proper way. Unfortunately, this default system, compared to a good estate plan, is often more complicated, much slower to complete, and far, far more expensive. Worse yet, the Oklahoma default rules may not fit your wishes at all!

Don't just assume things will automatically work out the way that you want. This is especially true for married couples who frequently, and wrongly, assume that one spouse will get the benefit of the entire estate should the other become ill or pass away. This is a dangerously wrong assumption that could lead to disaster.

Our attorneys at McBride & Associates will educate you about the process, help you decide what is best for you, and ensure that your goals are met.