Wills & Trusts Serving Families Throughout Mobile

Mobile Wills & Trusts Attorney

Serving Clients in Southern Alabama

If you have assets and an estate you want to protect, you may need a will and/or a trust. These legal measures ensure that your property goes to your beneficiaries and help give your family peace of mind when handling your estate after death.

Ryan Legal Services, Inc. provides legal support and guidance to clients in Mobile and Southern Alabama. We offer a variety of legal services, including wills and trusts. Our team understands how important it is to protect what matters, so we provide compassionate counsel and peace of mind when you need it most.

Call our Mobile wills & trusts attorney at (251) 241-5234 to find out how Ryan Legal Services, Inc. can help you plan for the future.

What Is a Will?

A will is a legal document that includes your intentions to leave your property to a person or organization, name a guardian for your minor children, select an executor, and name a trustee to manage your property. There is no room for a misunderstanding or confusion about who will handle your assets or receive the inheritance. Wills protect your interests after death and help make the probate process easier on your family.

By planning out the future of your estate ahead of time, you can protect your assets from probate. Probate is the process of dividing an estate and paying off creditors after death. The court will evaluate your estate and distribute the funds to the state for back taxes, creditors, and finally, the beneficiaries. A will can eliminate the need for probate or ensure that large portions of the estate are exempt from the process.

Intestacy Laws

Your estate will be subject to intestacy laws if you die without a will. In Alabama, intestacy law grants your property to your closest relatives, starting with your spouse and children. If you do not have a living spouse or children, your estate will go to the next of kin.

To inherit an estate or assets, a person must outlive the deceased by at least five days. Half-relatives, those who share one family line but not the other, have the same right to property as a blood relative. This means that a sibling who shares the same father but not the same mother is equally entitled to your estate as a sibling who shares both parents. Posthumous relatives, conceived before and born after your death, may be beneficiaries.

Trusts

A trust is a method of estate transfer that utilizes a fiduciary relationship between the party authority and the trustees or beneficiaries. If you decide to organize your estate through a trust, you become the party authority or trustor, and many select a trustee to handle the estate after death.

There are different types of trusts, including:

Living Trust: A living trust is a document that can be changed or edited during the trustor's lifetime. These documents allow the trustor to maintain property ownership during their life and protect assets from probate.
Irrevocable Trust: Unlike a living trust, irrevocable trusts cannot be changed or modified once written. No one, including the trustor, can edit the document for any reason.
Charitable Trusts: These trusts benefit a charity or the public in general, depending on the trustor's wishes.

If you have a trust, you still need a will to ensure that your wishes are carried out after death. A trust protects assets, but a will can protect assets and children in many cases. A will can also account for property not listed in the trust. Essentially, a will provides legal backup to the trust.

Start Planning for the Future Today

Creating an estate plan can be complicated and emotionally burdensome. No one wants to think about what may happen to their loved ones if they die, but you do not have to face this process alone. Our Mobile wills and trusts attorney can guide you through the estate planning process and overcome obstacles along the way.

Ryan Legal Services, Inc. has over 26 years of experience handling wills and trusts, and we prioritize our client's goals to help them pursue the most optimal result. We believe in providing every client with one-on-one counsel with our attorney and 24/7 access to our staff and case updates. Our team puts our experience to work and treats our clients with the respect and compassion they deserve.

Get the peace of mind you need and schedule a free consultation with our Mobile wills and trusts attorney. Entrust your case to Ryan Legal Services, Inc. and put your case in good hands.

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Our FAQ

Have questions? We are here to help. Still have questions or can't find the answer you need? Give us a call at 251-241-5234 today!

What are Exemptions?

Most of the exemptions which will apply in a Chapter 7 case are found under Alabama state law. States are all given the option by Congress to decide whether to operate under their own exemption statutes, or under the exemption statutes set out under Title 11 of the U.S. Code ( the “Bankruptcy Code”). There are additional statutes ( “laws”) in both the United States Code and under the Alabama Code.
Whenever there is a statute that provides additional protection for your property over and above the standard list of exemptions, you can claim these exemptions to further protect your property. Failure to timely claim an exemptions can have the effect of a waiver of that exemption. This means it is highly important to provide your lawyer ( “attorney”) with all of the information he or she requests from you concerning your property. The panel trustee is only able to seize and liquidate property to pay creditors which is not subject to a legal exemption under Alabama OR federal law.
In Chapter 13 bankruptcy cases, the Debtor keeps all property. Exemptions are still important to identify and claim in your case, however. Failure to claim all of your exemptions in a Chapter 13 case can result in you being required to pay your creditors more than you would otherwise owe them if all exemptions were claimed.
At Ryan Legal Services, Inc., we are highly knowledgeable and keep up to date with respect to Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy exemptions. We represent individual clients in Baldwin, Mobile and Washington Counties.
Kevin Ryan is an experienced bankruptcy lawyer who will be there for you. Call us to set up a free telephone or office consultation. Kevin Ryan is admitted to practice before the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Alabama. http://www.alsb.uscourts.gov
What is a Reaffirmation Agreement?

You may decide that you would like to keep your relationship with certain creditors in a Chapter 7 case. The procedure to maintain certain debts post-bankruptcy is called Reaffirmation. Reaffirmation is accomplished by entering into a written agreement with the creditor using one of a number of Official Bankruptcy Forms. Usually, the debtor and creditor simply re-establish the original terms of the loan. In some cases, the creditor may agree to reduce an interest rate, or modify the original contract terms as an incentive for the debtor to reaffirm the debt.
Reaffirmation of a long term mortgage loan or an auto loan may be something a debtor would want to consider in the context of filing a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case. The terms of the agreement, and whether the agreement would be in the client's best interest is something that a competent lawyer will discuss with a client. Reaffirmation of a mortgage or auto loan will cause the future payments to be reported to the major credit bureaus ( Trans Union, Experian and Equifax). Timely payments will help raise the debtor's credit score after the bankruptcy discharge order is issued in the Chapter 7 bankruptcy case.
A debtor will generally have only forty-five (45) days after the conclusion of the Meeting of Creditors to file the Reaffirmation Agreement. The debtor is required to file Official Bankruptcy Form 8 ( Statement of Intent) with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court that identifies the debtor's intent with respect to secured debts like auto and car loans. A debtor is never required to reaffirm any debt in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case.
At Ryan Legal Services, Inc, we have been representing individuals in Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy matters since 1998. We represent individuals in Baldwin, Mobile and Washington Counties.
Kevin Ryan is an experienced bankruptcy lawyer who will be there for you. Call us to set up a free telephone or office consultation.
Should I Transfer Property Pre-Bankruptcy?

There are some cases where a client can meet with a lawyer and make arrangements to change the ownership of property, sell property, or dispose of property prior to filing a bankruptcy case. However, this should never be interpreted as a blank license to indiscriminately transfer assets out of your name. You should never transfer title to any property, or spend any amount of money that is not allocated towards necessary household bills, utilities, and pre-existing secured debt payments prior to consulting with a bankruptcy lawyer. The initial office consultation with a lawyer is dedicated mostly to discussing these issues. A lawyer will always be interested in meeting with you sooner rather than later so that these potential issues can be identified and properly addressed prior to moving forward on your case.
Transfers of property, or spending discretionary funds prior to filing a bankruptcy case can often result in negative consequences when you later file a bankruptcy case. Every bankruptcy case presents different circumstances, and different opportunities to legally protect your property from creditors. The objective in most bankruptcy cases is to protect all or as much of your property while terminating all or most of your debt. This is usually where a bankruptcy case can become too complicated for a person to obtain all of the benefits of a bankruptcy filing by filing a case without hiring a lawyer. The best bankruptcy attorneys set and accomplish goals with their clients to protect the maximum amount of property and obtain a discharge of all or a maximum amount of the client(s)' debt in the least amount of time.
You should not transfer any of your property until you speak with a qualified, experienced bankruptcy attorney. At Ryan Legal Services, Inc., Attorney Kevin Ryan has more than 18 years experience handling complex Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 Bankruptcy matters. Call now to schedule a free telephone or office consultation. We are happy to discuss these issues with you personally and confidentially.
Kevin Ryan is an experienced bankruptcy lawyer who will be there for you. Call us to set up a free telephone or office consultation.

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