All estate plans are not created equal…they are personal and individual. There is no such thing as a “cookie cutter” estate plan…at least not one that does what you want it to do. The big misconception people have about estate planning is that it is about “the documents.” That couldn’t be further from the truth…the documents simply “execute” the estate plan, they aren’t the actual plan.
What an effective estate plan does is simple…carry out your wishes and desires exactly the way you want them to be carried out. It is a custom suit designed specifically for you and your loved ones. If yours isn’t like this, it’s time to revisit it and make sure it is carrying out your wishes. To help get you started, there are certain key components every plan should have, regardless of how you customize it.
A last will and testament is the document which parents need to legally nominate guardians to rear their children if orphaned. It clearly delineates who should take care of the children and who should manage the money available to care for the children, as noted in The Daily Sentinel’s article titled “What is missing from your estate plan?”
Let’s start with possibly the most important aspect of any estate plan…your family and kids. What do you want to have happen to them if something happens to you? For example, when it comes to guardianship, some people name one person to rear the children and handle the money. It’s generally a good idea to separate these two roles.
Without these instructions in a will, those left behind can have very different ideas about where the children should live and who should care for them. And if the parents of the two families have differing opinions, suddenly both families have hard choices to make about what will happen to the children.
No parent wants to leave a legacy of court battles and family division. However, that’s what is likely to happen without a will. If this hasn’t been defined and written in a very specific way, it’s your children that will suffer when you are gone.
Another critical issue to address when you are alive is to plan for incapacity. A living will, also known as an “advance directive,” is important because it helps pre-answer questions regarding what treatment and care you would want if unable to speak for yourself. Do you want to be kept alive by artificial means? You do not want your loved ones making this decision during a time of great emotional stress? These are all great questions to answer before this situation happens. This becomes a very critical element to have discussed and documented in your estate plan.
Finally, your estate plan should include a medical durable power of attorney to deal with all other medical decisions other than end of life. Without it, if you are not near death but just unable to share your opinions about your care, your family and your medical providers are not in a good position to know what to do and carry out your wishes. But when you have a medical directive, those who care enough about their family designate an agent and ensure that their wishes are legally binding.
One big question everyone asks is, “When should I start working on my estate plan?” The correct answer would be “yesterday,” but if you missed that deadline then today is the next best time. If you are a young parent, there should not be a delay in starting since every day you don’t have a plan in place puts your kids at risk of guardianship issues. And no parent wants to put their kids in such a vulnerable position. When you do, the court system takes over and makes the decision about who will rear them and how their lives will go on after you are gone.
Talk with your estate planning attorney as soon as you can and get the process started. You will not only have much greater peace of mind but you will have a plan that everyone knows exists and what to when certain conditions arise. You can’t do it soon enough.