Estate Planning with a Personal Injury Settlement

Memphis Estate Planning Lawyer

Winning a personal injury lawsuit or receiving a personal injury settlement is great. Whatever your accident and injuries, the lawsuit or settlement will greatly help you in your recovery process.

But it can impact your estate planning in many ways.

Medical Expenses

Depending on the severity of your injury, your current and future medical expenses could be costly. Your settlement will help with those costs. You need to be certain your settlement properly accounts for your medical expenses or your settlement funds could be improperly categorized as income to you. Not only will this decrease the amount of money you’ll have for your medical expenses, it will also increase the amount of tax you owe as your income will be greater. This is where the skill of an experienced estate planning attorney can greatly assist you.

Taxes

As discussed above, the size of your settlement could increase your taxes. This is important to consider when creating your estate plan so you minimize your tax liability. Your personal injury settlement is there for your recovery and your medical expenses – not to pay your increase in taxes.

Using the services of a law firm will help you to ensure your taxes are minimized and your settlement is used for the purpose it was intended – your recovery and your medical expenses.

Succession Planning

In a perfect world, your settlement funds will exceed your need for them. This doesn’t mean you have to give them back. But you should plan for having leftover money at your disposal.

This is important to consider in your estate planning because you want to make sure your heirs are taken care of after you’re gone. By setting up a trust to not only care for yourself during your lifetime, you are able to ensure your heirs are cared for after you’re gone. You have the ability to set up a trust for your benefit to manage the settlement proceeds and pay your medical and recovery expenses.

In addition, you have the ability to be your own trustee during your lifetime. The benefit to this approach is that you don’t have to give up control of your assets. Another major benefit is that you can have greater control over what happens to your assets after you’re gone. Finally, setting up a trust ensures you can make your money work for you. While you are not using funds, you can invest them. Even if your settlement proceeds are only put in a savings account, you can still earn interest on this money, ensuring that you make your money work for you.

Contact a trusted estate planning attorney

Your ability to plan for your future is limited only by the skill and experience of your Memphis estate planning lawyer. Choosing your estate planning attorney from Patterson Bray to guide you through the protection of your settlement funds and planning for your future is an incredibly important step.