Estate Planning Mistakes to Avoid
From time to time, it’s good to review why having a complete, up-to-date estate plan is so important.
From time to time, it’s good to review why having a complete, up-to-date estate plan is so important.
A Last Will and Testament is a document you create during your lifetime that directs where your assets that are subject to probate (the formal process of having your assets distributed through the court system) will go at your death.
My mother told me many times over the years that she had a will, and I believed her. When she passed away, we discovered that her will was 40 years old—and completely useless.
When preparing estate planning documents, certain beneficiaries may need more protection than others. One particular class of beneficiaries that needs to be intentionally considered is minor children.
Frequent triggers also include changes in the health of executors and guardians; changes in laws, which may impact tax and legal strategies; and changes in state residence, which can also impact planning.
Although there is often a progression of complexity in estate planning, this progression generally follows stages in life rather than specific ages.
Without a proper elder law estate plan, the children’s responsibilities are even more exhausting, stressful and sad.
There are milestones in every life. For many, graduations, marriage, children, opening a business and retiring are among these milestones.
If your family, especially your children, are still heavily dependent on you, you can still provide for them through proper estate planning, even if you are no longer present.
Of all the documents we discuss with, and prepare for our clients, the Last Will & Testament, or will, is the best known and understood.