Why Should I Get an Estate Plan for My Family?
No matter how much we love our families and want to ensure they’re cared for in the future, none of us likes thinking about estate planning. As soon as we start hearing conversations about what to do regarding the planning and execution of wills and trusts, we want to check out.
It’s a natural human reaction. Not only are those conversations complicated and sometimes a bit boring, but they make us think about unpleasant things like passing away or not being able to care for our families anymore. Those are terrible feelings we don’t want to experience.
But here’s the truth, and it’s actually very positive: having frank and productive conversations for a short time with an experienced legal team like the one at The Council Firm, PLLC, who can help you make the decisions that will protect your estate and your assets for your loved ones to protect them in the future, is better than just not thinking about it. Here’s why: in both cases, you stop thinking about it, but one of them is out of anxiety and worry, because the problem is not yet solved. However, when you set up an estate plan, you can stop thinking about it because it IS solved. Your estate is protected, your family is cared for, and you can go about your life without the nagging worry that something could happen and you’re not ready.
Isn’t a DIY Will Enough to Protect My Family and Assets?
First, it’s essential to know that if you have a will, you should be proud of yourself for taking the step. Many, if not most, people with a spouse or children or an extended family tend to put off or completely ignore the question of whether they need a will until it’s too late. An unforeseen complication or tragedy hits, and without the protection in place, the finances and security of their family are suddenly in flux.
Congratulations on getting a will in place! Even if it’s a DIY one, it will be helpful to you. However, a will simply does not cover many things. There are complicated questions about the division of assets and the distribution of assets to family members in specific ways or at certain times that cannot be accomplished with a will.
A will is also not as strong as a trust, nor is it as flexible. That means that family members can challenge them after you’ve passed on, potentially risking the intentions you had for your estate. Another problem arising from the DIY wills and the websites that offer them is that they don’t ask you all the questions you want to consider before making your final decisions. There are too many unanswered questions and room for possible mistakes when a non-attorney prepares a will.
Aren’t I Too Young to Need an Estate Plan?
One of the primary issues stopping people, especially younger people, from taking much-needed estate planning steps is the belief that it won’t be needed for quite a while, and they have plenty of time to consider it. While we all want to believe that, it is unfortunately not the truth for many people, and more importantly, we never know if it will be true for us until it has already happened.
In recent years, younger-in-life health scares have become a more accepted reality, as greater awareness and news coverage make the populace more aware of potential complications that await us in life. Many of the stories shared on social media or in crowdfunding campaigns came about because the people involved didn’t have plans and weren’t prepared for many of life’s most difficult and unexpected challenges.
It’s understandable to feel invincible as a younger person, or at least to feel like serious issues and conversations about deteriorating health are many years away. However, it’s always a good idea to make carefully considered decisions that keep your loved ones’ best interests in mind, and that includes what will happen to and for them once you have passed on or become incapacitated.
Why Does an Estate Plan Matter to Me After I’m Dead, Anyway?
This is an important question, but remember that a good estate plan doesn’t just plan for your passing. It also allows for decision-making when you potentially become incapacitated through injury, age, illness, or other factors that limit your ability to communicate or make decisions.
It would be nice to think that we will be strong and healthy until the day we pass on, and we can leave everything neatly to our surviving loved ones. However, health is tricky for many of us, especially as we get older or deal with unexpected illness or injury. There is the possibility that, rather than needing an estate plan for after you pass on, you will need it to care for your estate while you are still alive but unable to do it yourself.
If you became incapacitated tomorrow, do all your loved ones know exactly what you want to do with your assets? Do they know what kind of care you want for yourself? Do they even know the location and amount of all of your assets? The more you think about and discuss what you have and what you want to pass on, the more you will realize that creating an estate plan isn’t just a good idea. It’s the only sure way to ensure your plans to care for your family actually happen.
Do I Need an Attorney to Make My Estate Plan?
As you may know, there are ways for someone to create wills, trusts, and other aspects of an estate plan without the help and guidance of an attorney, and the court does not require an attorney to accept them. However, as we have seen throughout this article, there are many ways in which your plans aren’t clearly explained or fully realized without a robust estate plan that considers the number of unexpected curveballs life may throw your way.
A layperson won’t know what they are, but the legal team at The Council Firm, PLLC, does. We have years of legal experience, and the knowledge we’ve gathered about the estate planning process has provided us with the unique ability to help you set the plan you want and make sure it comes to fruition exactly how you want it.
Call us at 903-494-3380, and we can start working with you right away to understand your needs quickly, create an estate plan that accomplishes it, and let you get back to enjoying your time and living your life without constant worrying.
