Going on vacation entails lots
of planning: packing luggage, making travel arrangements, holding mail, etc.
But one thing many people forget to do is plan for the worst. Traveling,
especially in foreign destinations, means you’ll likely be at greater risk than
usual for illness, injury, and even death.
In light of this reality, you must have a legally sound and updated estate plan
in place before taking your next trip. If not, your loved ones can face a legal
nightmare if something should happen to you while you’re away. The following
are 5 critical estate planning tasks to take care of before departing.
1. Make sure your beneficiary designations are up-to-date
Some of your
most valuable assets, like life insurance policies and retirement accounts, do
not transfer via a will or trust. Instead, they have beneficiary designations
that allow you to name the person (or persons) you’d like to inherit the asset
upon your death. It’s vital you name a primary beneficiary and at least one
alternate beneficiary. Moreover, these designations must be regularly reviewed
and updated, especially following major life events like marriage, divorce, and
having children.
2. Create power of attorney documents
Unforeseen illness and injury can leave you incapacitated and unable to make
critical decisions about your own well-being. Given this, you must grant
someone the legal authority to make those decisions on your behalf through
powers of attorney. You need two such documents: a medical power of attorney
and a durable financial power of attorney. The medical power of attorney gives
the person of your choice the authority to make your healthcare decisions for
you, while the durable financial power of attorney gives someone the authority
to manage your finances. As with beneficiary designations, these decision
makers can change over time, so before you leave for vacation, be sure both
documents are up to date.
3. Name guardians for your minor children
If you’re the parent of minor children, your most important planning task is to legally document guardians to care for your kids in the event of your death or incapacity. These are the people whom you trust to care for your children—and potentially raise them to adulthood—if something should happen to you. Given the monumental importance of this decision, we’ve created a comprehensive system called the Kids Protection Plan that guides you step-by-step through the process of creating the legal documents naming these guardians. You can get started with this process right now by calling us or attending one of our free Guardian Nomination Workshops (our next one is at the Sierra Madre Public Library on May 4, 2019).
4. Organize your digital assets
If you’re like most people, you probably have dozens of digital accounts like email, social media, cloud storage, and cryptocurrency. If these assets aren’t properly inventoried and accounted for, they’ll likely be lost forever if something happens to you. At minimum, you should write down the location and passwords for each account and ensure someone you trust knows what to do with these digital assets in the event of your death or incapacity. To make this process easier, consider using LastPass or a similar service that stores and organizes your passwords.
Complete your vacation planning now
If you have
a vacation planned, be sure to add these 5 items to your to-do list before
leaving. And if you need help completing any of these tasks—or would simply like
us to double check the plan you have in place—call us and mention this article
for a friendly, informative, no-pressure, complimentary consultation.
We recommend you complete these tasks at least 8 weeks before you depart.
However, if your trip is sooner than that, call and let us know you need a rush
Family Estate Planning Session, and we’ll do our best to fit you in as soon as
possible.
Dedicated to empowering your family, building your wealth and defining your legacy,
