It Is Always Time For Estate Planning

What else could possibly go wrong? A question that probably shouldn’t be asked, especially given recent events. This year has presented quite a few challenges that continue to face our communities, our nation and our world. There has never been a better time to be sure that your estate plan is complete.

Power Of Attorney

Establishing a Power of Attorney is a key part of ones’ estate plan. This type of documentation provides protection in the case of incapacitation, in which one in unable to take care of paying bills, taxes or taking care of family or business matters. For these circumstances, you need to consider a Durable Power of Attorney.

Healthcare Directive

Another document needed now, more than ever, is an Advance Health Care Directive. This documentation explains how you want medical decisions to be made if you are too sick to make decisions on your own behalf. A health care directive tells your health care team and family members what kind of care you prefer, what kind of care you don’t want and who should be responsible for making these decisions for you.

This is especially important for people who are living together without the legal protection that being married provides. While some states may recognize registered domestic partners, in other states, medical personnel will not permit someone who is not legally married to another person to be involved in their health care decisions.

Online Information

Personal information that is only saved online is also at risk. Most bills today don’t arrive in the mail, they are simply sent to your email inbox. It is smart to consider what is to happen if the person who pays the bill is in a hospital, on a ventilator?

Just as you make sure that your spouse or children know where your estate plan documents are, they also need to know who your estate planning attorney is, your contact list of key friends and family members, and where your insurance policies, financial records and legal documents are located.

Plan C

Current events have led estate planning attorneys to talk with clients about a “Plan C”—a plan for what would happen if heirs, beneficiaries and contingent beneficiaries were to pass. They are adding language that states which beneficiaries or charities are to receive their assets, if all of the people named in the estate plan have died.

This ultimately maintains control over the distribution of assets, rather than having assets pass via the rules of intestate succession. Without a Plan C, an entire estate could end up going to a distant relative, regardless of your intended plan.

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