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Estate planning · Nevada
In Nevada, a plan is mostly about people.
Nevada doesn’t tax what you leave behind, so the decisions are about who’s in charge if you can’t be, and who receives what.
The short answer
A Nevada plan uses the same documents as any other: a trust or a will, a financial power of attorney, a health-care directive, and the deed that puts the house into the trust. What Nevada changes is how they’re written. For a married couple, that starts with community property; for the power of attorney and the directive, it means Nevada’s statutory forms.
Nevada-specific detail
Community property
Nevada is a community property state. Most of what a married couple earns or acquires during the marriage belongs to them half and half, whichever spouse’s name is on the account, and each spouse can only give away their own half. Nevada also lets couples hold community property with a right of survivorship, so it passes to the surviving spouse by title alone.
No state tax on what you leave
Nevada has no estate or inheritance tax, and no personal income tax. Only the federal estate tax applies, and only to estates above the federal exemption.
Statutory forms
Nevada’s statutes set out a form for a financial power of attorney and a form for an advance directive for health care. Documents written on those forms are the ones Nevada hospitals, care facilities, and banks recognize on sight.
The transfer-on-death deed
Nevada allows a deed that names who receives a piece of real estate at the owner’s death, recorded now and effective only then. For a single property with simple wishes, it can be enough on its own. For a home that would need to be managed during an illness, or an estate with more than one moving part, a trust usually does the job better.
Wills, handwritten and electronic
Nevada recognizes a will that is entirely handwritten and signed by the person making it, without witnesses, and it was among the first states to recognize electronic wills. Both are valid, and both still go through the probate court.
Two kinds of trust Nevada allows
One is a trust you create for your own benefit that, once the statutory conditions are met, is protected from most future creditors. The other can run for generations. Most families need neither. If yours might, it’s worth asking.
How we charge
One flat fee, quoted at the consultation.
Nothing starts until you know the fee and how payment works. No fee at the time of consultation for an estate plan.
Before you call
Do I need a trust in Nevada, or is a will enough?
It depends mostly on whether you own real estate. A will alone does not avoid probate in Nevada, because a will is a set of instructions for the court. If you own a home, a funded revocable living trust is usually the better fit.
I have a plan from another state. Is it still good in Nevada?
Usually it’s still valid, but it may no longer fit. Nevada has its own statutory forms for powers of attorney and health-care directives, and hospitals and banks here expect them. Those documents are the first things to review after a move, then how each asset is titled.
What should I bring to the first meeting?
A list of what you own and roughly what it’s worth, the names of the people you’d want in charge and the people you want to provide for, and any documents you already have. Nothing has to be organized.