Estate planning is important for a variety of reasons, yet some people put off this crucial step. Estate planning can help ensure that your property is distributed according to your wishes, protect your family, minimize taxes and probate, and provide for your care in the event of incapacity. Luckily, we have some local professionals that are on top of their game when it comes to real estate planning.
In this blog, we count down the top 10 reasons people procrastinate estate planning according to Sharon M. Jannuzzi with Woodburn and Wedge.
If you have minor children, regardless of your assets, you should have a will that states who will be their guardian if you and their other parent should both die. Even if your assets are not all that significant, an estate planning package also includes powers of attorney for financial matters and health care. Everyone should have both of these documents in place and should update them from time to time. Taking the simple step to put powers of attorney in place will enable the person you designate to take care of you if you become disabled, thus potentially avoiding an expensive guardianship proceeding, and possibly a medical and ethical crisis.
First of all, a quick call around town to local professionals will help you to better understand the fees associated with real estate planning and help you realize that the cost is not prohibitive. Be prepared to give the attorney an idea of the nature and level of your wealth and your family situation, because this will affect the recommendations the attorney makes and the cost of the work. Second, if you have enough assets to generate any kind of probate proceeding, you have enough assets to pay for an appropriate level of estate planning.
Fair to say, you won’t be around to see the mess you create. But is that any way to live your life? If you care about your family now, why would you not make an effort to make their lives easier in the future by nominating who will be in charge and providing for who gets what? The Golden Rule seems particularly apt in this situation: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
Estate planning will require you to do some thinking and some planning. You may have to get in contact with friends or relatives to ask if they would be willing to serve as your executor or act as an agent under your power of attorney. But your estate planning attorney will guide you, and the results are worth the effort.
Fair enough, calling lawyers out of the blue could be an unpleasant prospect. But with the internet, you can let your fingers do the searching and get some information about estate planning, and local estate planning lawyers, in advance of picking up the phone.
This is tough. Married couples should do their estate planning together, or at least in coordination, particularly if they have community or joint property. If, after an appropriate amount of time has passed and your efforts to persuade him or her have been unfruitful, and it will not cause undue hardship on your marriage, you might consider making an appointment just for yourself. Your spouse may be more willing to follow suit if you pave the way.
Has it ever occurred to you that your spouse might die before you do? Or that you might die in a common disaster? What will happen then? A probate will be necessary at the death of the second spouse. If you and your spouse have children from prior marriages, all the assets will pass to the surviving spouse, and then to the children or heirs of the surviving spouse—unless you provide otherwise with a will or trust. If that is not the result you want, you should put some estate planning in place to provide for both spouses’ children.
Hopefully, your assets have changed and increased since then; maybe enough to warrant establishing a trust. And your kids have grown up. Maybe you now have grandchildren to be taken into consideration. Your family may have some special needs that did not exist in ’76. The persons you nominated as executors may no longer be alive or willing to serve. If your antiquated will was not prepared with a self-proving affidavit signed by the witnesses, your executor might be unable to probate it if he or she cannot find those same witnesses and get them to sign an affidavit regarding your competency. There are lots of reasons to update your estate planning periodically. Get on the ball.
We are all busy, for sure. Something has to be important, or we have to make it a priority, in order to fit it into our schedule. As a Chinese proverb says, “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is now.”
News flash: You will die whether or not you do any estate planning. Signing your will or setting up a trust will not induce that day to come any sooner. Getting your estate planning done by a professional will give you peace of mind, knowing that you’ve provided for an orderly administration and distribution of your assets when that day comes. Call today. Seriously.
In conclusion, estate planning can help ensure that your property is distributed according to your wishes, protect your family, minimize taxes and probate, and provide for your care in the event of incapacity. Finding an experienced, well-respected estate planning attorney will be a huge help with the estate planning process. We highly recommend that you take the time to start the journey of creating a will or trust or updating your existing will or trust, if it has been some time since it was created.
We would like to thank Sharon M. Jannuzzi with Woodburn and Wedge for her contributions to this blog. To learn more about Sharon, you may review her bio and reviews online.
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