Yes, estate planning is for every capable adult American, rich or poor; single or married; 18 or 80. Protect your choices by preparing a Health Care Proxy; Power of Attorney and a Will. If you own a pet, you may also need a Pet Power of Attorney. If you do not create your estate plan, you forfeit control over your choices and assets; you will cause your loved ones unnecessary emotional stress; significant legal costs and perhaps cause lasting family conflict.

Gentreo is on a mission to protect 10 million American families. Gentreo not only specializes in estate planning and easy creation of documents such as online Wills, we also offer the Gentreo Family Vault where you can easily store all your important documents and information, and selectively share any or all with your chosen friends. Gentreo offers a one-stop integrated experience to make it easy for you to protect your loved ones. Additionally, Gentreo aims to be your life partner, so that as your circumstances and perhaps the laws in your state change, Gentreo will be there with you each step of the way.

All capable adult Americans should consider having a Will, Power of Attorney, and Health Care Proxy.  If you own a pet, you may consider having a Pet Power of Attorney and/or Pet Trust.  If you do not choose to create these documents, you are making it much more difficult and expensive for your loved ones.

No.  Every capable adult needs their own individual estate planning documents.  You may want to work with your spouse to create mirror Wills, but you do not have to take that action.  Remember, your Will only controls that which you own outright. For example, if you owned a joint bank account in both your name and your spouse’s name, the asset would not be included in your Will. It would automatically be owned by your surviving joint tenant, your spouse.

Gentreo was created to enable the vast majority of Americans to create their estate plan.  Some people with extraordinary wealth (greater than $5 million dollars) would probably want to consult an attorney, not because Gentreo documents would not be effective but that there may be other factors to consider when creating their estate plan.

Each state has its own rules on what is needed to validly execute estate planning documents.  Most states require notarization.  However, even in states that do not, Gentreo recommends notarization.

For example, Massachusetts does not require a Power of Attorney to be notarized; the reality is, though, that most financial institutions won't honor a Power of Attorney if it's not notarized.

There are mobile notaries that will come to your home to notarize your documents.  Some states allow for remote online notarization of estate planning documents.  During the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, many other states have allowed for remote online notarization in this emergency situation.

For the vast majority of Americans, a Will-based estate plan is sufficient.  In 2020, the estate tax exemption is over $11 million.  That means that if you have assets valued at less than $11 million, there is no estate tax.

Many states follow the federal estate tax exemptions; however, some do not.  So if you live in a state that has a low estate tax exemption and you have assets over that threshold, you may want to transfer assets into a trust.

Other considerations are that a Will must be probated in court, which is a public record, and for the most part, trusts are private and have no court involvement.  Some argue that the probate process takes a long time.  Depending on your assets and where you live, probate may not be (or does not need to be) a long or expensive process.

You can assist your parents if they have difficulty using the computer.  You can also be available for them to discuss the questions with you.  At the end of the day, however, your parents must be able to read and understand the documents they have created in order for their executions to be valid.