Are you done with your law degree? Do you plan on becoming an estate planning lawyer? How much do they earn? All these questions and more will be answered in this article.
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Estate Planning Lawyer: Who are they?
A person’s whole lifetime’s worth of wealth and possessions is collectively referred to as their estate, and estate planning lawyers assist people in making arrangements for how to divide their estates after death. They establish power of attorney, make wills, set up trusts, and increase estate worth by minimizing taxes.
Roles
Estate planning lawyers frequently perform the tasks listed below in their jobs:
- Developing a will
- Choose the beneficiaries
- After a client’s passing, inform beneficiaries of the estate’s decision-making process.
- Give examples of various estate planning solutions so that clients can make well-informed selections
- Whenever possible, reducing and avoiding estate tax
- Establishing any trusts you might want to safeguard your assets, both for your own advantage in the case of your incapacity while you are alive and for the advantage of your beneficiaries after your passing
Job Description
Estate planning attorneys assist clients in making arrangements for the distribution of assets in the event of death or a permanent disability. The total money and possessions accumulated throughout a person’s lifetime, less any unpaid debts, make up their estate. Lawyers who specialize in estate planning assist clients in drafting legal documents that name recipients—or beneficiaries—for those assets. This may refer to the distribution of money, real estate, life insurance payouts, pension or retirement funds, and other assets.
Estate planning attorneys first visit clients to gain a thorough knowledge of their requirements and objectives. Clients may worry about providing for minors before they become adults or worry about disputes between beneficiaries after death. The estate planning attorney may provide clients with a variety of choices to help them ensure that there is legal documentation that will support their preferences after they die or in the event that they become disabled by listening to their worries and goals.
Lawyers who specialize in estate planning assist their clients with the creation of wills, trusts, living trusts, guardianships, and other estate planning documents. By doing this, the attorney can assist clients in devising a strategy for the distribution of estate proceeds that will reduce the amount of taxes beneficiaries will owe and protect those assets from heirs’ creditors. A client’s estate planning attorney meets with beneficiaries after the client passes away or becomes incapacitated to discuss how the person wanted his or her inheritance divided.
Regular Work Hours
During regular business hours, the majority of estate planning attorneys maintain full-time schedules. Although it may occasionally be necessary to work overtime in this position, it is less often than it is for attorneys in other fields in order to prepare and process time-sensitive papers and meet deadlines.
Future Job Growth
The Baby Boomer generation is one of the largest in recent memory, and the majority of its members are either in or close to retirement. The need for estate planning attorneys to assist people who are becoming older and approaching the point at which death and disability are increasingly likely is anticipated to increase.
Common Employers
The majority of estate planning attorneys work for private law firms. They might run their own businesses, co-own a business with one or more partners, or work as staff attorneys in privately held estate planning law firms.
Getting Into Estate Planning Law
A master’s degree is often obtained in order to concentrate one’s study on estate law, but both a bachelor’s degree and a professional law degree are minimal requirements for estate planning attorneys. Getting your bachelor’s degree is the initial step in the procedure. Although you can choose any major as an undergraduate, pre-law, political science, English and history degrees are popular. You must have a strong GPA, strong recommendations from your teachers, and a high LSAT score in order to get admitted to law school.
Applying to and being accepted into law school is the next step. The typical length of a law school program is three years, with a professional Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree as the end result. You will study broad law issues in your first year, but in your second and third years, you should have more choices in your course selection to concentrate on estate law. You must take and pass the bar exam after completing law school. A license to practice law in your state must be obtained by passing the bar exam.
There are two ways to progress into a specialist in estate law from there. You have the option of working as an estate planning apprentice or entry-level employee, or you can continue your education for an additional two years to obtain a master’s degree in estate law. You’ll have the knowledge and abilities required to start practicing estate planning law independently.
Estate Planning Attorney Pay Information
The information below has been duly researched and is provided here. While the income and growth information is based on the latest data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The annual average salary is $136,260 and the hourly average is $66.
How much money do Estate Planning Lawyers make compared to other professions?
According to the most recent data on employment in the US, estate planning attorneys can expect to earn an average yearly salary of $136,260, or $66 per hour.
How has the job growth for Estate Planning Lawyers compared to other professions?
For a total of 822,500 people employed in the career nationwide by 2024, 43,800 jobs will change. This represents a 5.6% change in growth over the following 10 years, giving the career an above-average growth rate nationally.
