Spring is almost here - honest! Spring is a great time to prepare your estate plan or review an already existing one. You should review your estate planning documents every five years or so to make sure they still comply with your wishes. Embrace the season and prepare, or make the necessary changes to, your Will, Health Care Power of Attorney, Financial Power of Attorney, and other estate planning documents so your wishes will be known.
Estate planning is an ongoing process, not a one-time event. Not only are there changes in tax laws, but your life and the lives of your loved ones are in a constant change of flux as you move through life together. Accordingly, keeping your estate plan up with life changes requires action, not complacency. It may be time to clean up your estate plan this spring!
Why should a person’s estate plan be updated from time to time?
Laws change, your assets change, your situation changes. What was right in 2000, may not work at all today. You may get married, separated, divorced or widowed; have or adopt children; sell and obtain new assets and more. Just like we update other parts of our lives, we need to update our Wills and other estate planning documents.
Let’s say you named your spouse then your mother as your Personal Representative. Now, your mother may be deceased and there is no successor personal representative. Worse, what if you have named your brother as the beneficiary of your entire estate when you didn’t have a spouse or kids and now he inherits the whole estate and your kids get nothing.
Be sure to review your estate planning documents to ensure the beneficiaries listed are still appropriate, and that each of your assets is accounted for. If you need to update your will or trust, be sure to safely discard the old one in order to prevent confusion and inform your loved ones where your estate planning documents can be found in the event of your passing.
Is it just my Will I need to think about?
No. The Will handles your estate when you die, but estate planning refers to more than just death. What happens if you become incompetent and cannot make medical decisions or pay your bills? That’s where a Durable Financial Power of Attorney and Health Care Power of Attorney come in. The Durable Financial Power of Attorney allows you to appoint someone you trust to handle your finances. The Health Care Power of Attorney allows you to appoint someone to make medical decisions if you can’t. No matter how long you have lived together, without these documents, someone may need to go to court to become guardian or conservator to handle your financial and health care decisions.
Should I review my Retirement and Life Insurance Benefits?
Yes. A review of designated beneficiaries, ages of asset distribution and beneficiaries named on insurance and retirement plans is a great idea. Many times, either a change in financial information or family circumstances necessitates a change in such documents that doesn’t always occur.
What if I now have a disabled beneficiary and need to make special provisions for him/her to protect their entitlement to government benefits?
There are special considerations that need to be addressed when dealing with the sensitive and difficult decisions that face individuals with disabilities and their families. These issues include estate planning, meeting long-term health care costs, negotiating with governmental benefits programs and the need for guardianships. Another primary concern is how to protect assets so that a disabled individual is not impoverished, but remains entitled to government benefits. There are options such as Supplemental Needs Trusts that can protect assets, while at the same time protecting the disabled individual’s quality of life.
As you can see, Estate Planning is important. Now is a great time to do some spring cleaning and review what you have done (or not done), make any needed changes, and perhaps tie up some loose ends. Spring is a good time to sit down with your attorney to discuss what you need to handle your situation and ensure your wishes are followed.
Contact Lisa to discuss your estate planning needs today!