Estate planning ensures that your assets and property are distributed in the ways you wish after your death. As a general rule, anyone with assets, property, or other financial interests should have an estate plan in place. Below are four reasons to start the estate planning process today:

1. Avoid Probate

Having estate planning documents like living trusts allow many of your assets to avoid probate after you're gone. Probate is a lengthy, involved, and costly process—mostly administrative in nature—that aims to verify the validity of a deceased person's estate. But with a trust, ownership passes to the heirs you name without getting caught up in probate.

2. Avert Potential Problems

With no estate plans, you are opening your financial holdings up to a score of potential problems. Chief among them: the courts will determine who inherits your assets, and their rulings may be light-years away from what you would have wanted. Also, your prospective heirs can file lawsuits against your estate and against each other in an attempt to get what they want out of your estate.

3. Protect Your Beneficiaries

We all have loved ones that we'd like to see inherit all or some of our final estates. With proper estate planning, those loved ones are legally protected, and you can be confident they will receive the legacies you wish to bequeath them. Both you and your heirs deserve the peace of mind that comes from estate planning.

4. Safeguard Your Assets

Without estate plans, your assets could be squandered or divided in ways that could deplete your years of hard work. The best way to safeguard what you have is to pass it on to the people and organizations that will continue to appreciate it. Estate plans don't just protect your loved ones: they protect every financial interest you have, large or small.

Ibold & O’Brien is a team of attorneys who have been serving the Chardon, OH, area since 1980; they are a multi-practice firm offering representation for estate planning, bankruptcy, and personal injury issues. Call (440) 285-3511, visit their website, or connect with them via Facebook to schedule a consultation. Start making the estate plans that solidify your legacy and honor the mark you've left on the world.