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In today's society, one must have certain documents. If you don't, then you run the risk of creating legal nightmares for others, perhaps yourself. Here's a brief rundown of some documents you ought to get, if you don't have them, and some reasons why they are important.

1. Will. This document is used to transfer your estate, that is, the property (real and personal) you own at death. Ordinarily, in a husband/wife situation, all the jointly owned property passes to the surviving spouse. But, realize that some states have laws that can create some problems for the couple without a will. The surviving spouse could discover that now the house she thought was hers, is really a house owned by herself and her children, even if they are minors. Get a will. Dictate to whom your property will go.

2. Durable Power of Attorney. This is a document that enables your spouse to legally, be you, that is, to act for you in a legal capacity, to do anything you could legally do. It needs to be "durable" so as to endure in the event of your mental and/or physical incapacity. Usually, you name your spouse. Each of you execute an identical document, naming the other as the "attorney-in-fact." Then, you name a successor, such as a son or daughter. These documents can prove invaluable. Usually, we are the last ones to know we're slipping off into "la-la" land. Everyone else knows our gears aren't meshing quite right. But, we don't. Sometimes, intervention is necessary to protect us from ourselves. A durable power of attorney is the "Poor Man's Guardianship." They're relatively inexpensive but so very valuable when one is needed.

3. Living Will. Different states call these by different names. Some call it an Advanced Medical Directive, others by different names. The function is the important thing, not the name. It is a document that is designed to insure that your directives with respect to your medical care, particularly with regard to whether you are to be kept alive artifically, if your death is deemed to be immenient. The Shivo case illustrates the need for such a document.

4. Trust. This is a document that enables you to literally give away the ownership of your property during your life, but allows you to not only use it, but if you're the Trustee, you can control that property. (There are more kinds of trusts than you have toes and fingers and each have different applications.) Some trusts are set up to help diminish federal taxes on large estates. But the ordinary citizen who has a mom and pop kind of life, nothing real fancy, no yaughts and such, can still have a trust, often called a Living Trust. A trust divides the interest that an individual has in the ownership of a property (not just real estate, but any personal item, including jewelry). The interest is divided into legal ownership and beneficial ownership. The grantor (owner) gives away the legal ownership to the trust. He or she or they may decide to keep the beneficial ownership. Thus, when one of them dies, that property was not legally owned by them, thus, the property is transferred by operation of the trust and not a will.

There are many other estate planning devices, but these are some of the most important. Please don't take any of what I've said here as legal advice, but do take it as an urging for you to make sure you have at a minimum, these kinds of documents. Since the laws vary from state to state, talk to your personal attorney, or if you don't have one, find one. Ask him/her if they have some experience in these things. But do get it done.