The term “estate planning” doesn’t mean much to most of us. We might conjure up thoughts of a wealthy spinster aunt planning for the distribution of her vast accumulation of properties to a long list of distantly related nieces and nephews. While there are probably a few of those folks out there, the vast majority of us just want to make responsible decisions to help our loved ones sort out our assets and belongings after we pass on. This is what I do, and what I will attempt to help you understand how to do, in my practice: to know some of the reasonable options available in making choices about how your assets, your health care, your children, and other major components of your life are to be treated upon your incapacity or death.
Your estate planning professionals, in helping you make those decisions, should keep in mind the following objectives, which are the “heart” of estate planning:
- To ensure that your family members have all the information they need to provide for your health care in the event of a terminal illness or injury, and that they know your wishes in advance regarding the use or removal of life support and other crucial end-of-life decisions.
- To ensure, to the greatest extent possible, that those who are appointed to carry out your wishes after your death (including executors, successor trustees and guardians of minor children) have all the resources they need to do their job properly.
- To ensure that your intended beneficiaries receive your assets upon your death, not the courts, lawyers and IRS. If you should die leaving minor children, a proper estate plan also ensures that your children’s inheritance will be safeguarded for them.
- To ensure that your family members and others who are important in your life understand the purpose behind your estate plan, so that they may effectively carry it out.
Communication is a key component to any estate plan. If you are married, you must communicate with your spouse so that you both agree on a common estate plan, or determine where you don’t agree so that those differences can be taken into account. You must also communicate with your estate planning professionals to help you set up a plan that actually will achieve what you want. And finally, you need to communicate with your family members and others who are integral parts of your estate plan: trusted people whom you have named to assist with important tasks, such as executors, successor trustees, guardians of minor children, etc., as well as those who will eventually receive the benefits of your plan.
The process of creating an estate plan is one that most people who have completed it describe in terms such as “satisfying”, “freeing”, “rewarding”, etc. Most of my clients wonder, at the end of the process, why they waited so long to do it. If you are one of those who have waited to create your estate plan, you are not alone; however, now is not too late to begin. You need not have made all the decisions before making an appointment to get started; in fact, sitting down with a qualified estate planning professional is often the first step in the process. You should be able to leave that first meeting with an action plan in place, knowing what steps will be taken by you and your professional advisor to complete your estate plan.
To give you a “head start” on what your estate plan might look like, I have described on the pages of this website the most common types of estate planning documents and their uses. While the details will vary for each individual or family, depending on your own unique circumstances, these tools are flexible enough that they can be drafted to provide for your wishes in almost any circumstance.
