"Indiana has a plan for you, but it is not what you think and may not be what you would want."

Indiana Has an ESTATE Plan for You

At PURPOSE Law Firm, ESTATE is an acronym that stands for: Everyone Special To you and All Things Essential. We are passionate about helping families not only protect their financial assets, but their human, spiritual and intellectual assets as well. Most married people think that if they die without a Will that their spouse will inherit everything…This is simply not true! If you die without a Will or an ESTATE plan, the great state of Indiana has a plan for you. But it is not what you think and may not be what you would want.

The following provisions in Indiana’s plan for you are basic and would likely be acceptable to you: When you do not have an ESTATE Plan in place when you die:

• If you only have a spouse, your spouse will inherit everything.

• If you only have children, your children will inherit everything.

• If you only have parents, your parents will inherit everything.

• If you only have siblings, your siblings will inherit everything.

The following provisions in Indiana’s plan for you get a little trickier and would likely be absolutely unacceptable to you: When you do not have an ESTATE Plan in place when you die:

• If you have a spouse and children with that spouse, your spouse inherits 50% of your property, and your children inherit the other 50% of your property.

• If you have a spouse and children from a previous relationship, your spouse inherits 50% of your personal property and only 25% of the fair market value of any real estate, minus encumbrances, and the children from the previous relationship inherit everything else.

• If you have a spouse and living parents, your spouse will inherit 75% of your property and your parents will inherit the remaining 25% of your property.

If you die without an ESTATE plan in place, Indiana has a plan for you. However, it may not be what you think or what you would want. If you are married and you assume that your spouse will automatically get everything, that is only true if you don’t have any children or living parents. If you have children with that spouse, children from a previous relationship, or living parents they will all get a portion of your property which will most likely result in a Court battle, family conflict and broken relationships.

Begin your ESTATE Planning process today by thinking about the legacy you want to leave your loved ones. We believe that a properly designed ESTATE plan can keep your family out of Court, out of conflict, and keep your children out of the care of strangers. At PURPOSE Law Firm we educate and empower you to make the best decisions for your family and help you leave a legacy of love.