Avoid an Estate Planning Nightmare
I will always be grateful to my parents for the careful attention they paid to their estate planning. They weren't wealthy, and could have easily fallen into the category of people who think they don't need an estate plan, but they maintained their wills, beneficiary designations, a trust, powers of attorney, medical directives and more. So as they each entered hospice and subsequently passed away, my family had the time and space to love and mourn them. They had dotted all their "I's" and crossed all their "T's." What a gift they gave us.
You may think that an "estate plan" is unnecessary — you wrote a will when you had kids and you have beneficiaries listed on your insurance policies and financial accounts (you do, right?). Or maybe you even had an attorney create a trust. But are your assets properly titled to the trust? When's the last time you reviewed your beneficiaries? What happens if you become incapacitated? Has an heir named in your will predeceased you? Have you divorced and made appropriate adjustments to your 401k beneficiaries? Who will act as a financial trustee if you pass away before your children are 18?
Death and incapacity may not be pleasant conversational topics, but if we want to avoid a quagmire of paperwork for ourselves or our loved ones when someone passes away or loses mental or physical capacity, let's please, please, please work with BOTH an attorney and a financial planner to ensure you have the legal and financial documents executed, funded, and titled. You do NOT want to be scrambling to move assets or going through probate at a time when you need to spend precious final hours with a loved one or attend to your grief once they've passed.
Talk to your parents about what they have planned for their end of life wishes. If you need help with that conversation, I can help provide talking points. Regardless of your age, address your own estate planning needs, and review your estate documents any time there's a major life change such as divorce or remarriage and at least every two years otherwise.
If you'd like to chat about how to get started, we’re here for you.
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