Why Estate Planning is for Life, Not Death

No one likes to think about death, especially their own. That is why many people procrastinate when it comes to estate planning. Because it’s for when you die, right? Wrong! When done through the right lawyer, creating an estate plan actually makes your life better.

Here are some of the things that estate planning does for you while you are alive:

• Gets you thinking about the real meaning of your life, what you want to pass on beyond your life, and what’s most important to you now;
• Makes you think about how you want to be cared for at the end of your life and lets you name who you want to make decisions for you if you become incapacitated;
• Gets you thinking about your money, who you want it to go to, when you want it to go to them, and even what you want them to do with it;
• Names guardians to care for your children in case you can’t;
• Helps you minimize taxes;
• Lets you provide for a child, or other loved one, with special needs without disrupting their governmental benefits;
• Protects your assets from divorce, creditors, and lawsuits – yours or your children’s;
• Enables you to gift portions of your estate to your children or even charities while you are still alive in a way that provides tax advantages and inspires wealth creation, not wealth depletion;
• Helps you plan for your own long-term care in a way that won’t diminish your estate.

Of course, having an estate plan also offers you peace of mind knowing you have done what you could to protect loved your ones and pass your assets to them after death. Having an estate plan in place before you pass guarantees:

• Your personal property and financial assets will go to the people you want to have them;
• Your family won’t have to deal with the expense and pain of going through the probate process;
• Your minor children are provided for in the way you choose, by whom you choose, with your values, and a trusted adviser in place to manage their finances until they come of age;
• Your assets are protected for your heirs with distributions made at certain ages (or other milestones of your choice);
• Your beneficiaries are named on retirement, life insurance, and other financial accounts so they get the assets in those accounts;
• The financial privacy of your family is protected.

If you know you need an estate plan but have been procrastinating, now is the perfect time to create a plan that spells out how you will pass on your values, beliefs and money to your children. In fact, pick up the phone right now and our office today to schedule a time for us to sit down and talk.

We normally charge $750 for a Family Wealth Planning Session, but because this planning is so important, I’ve made space for the next two people who mention this article to have a complete planning session at no charge. Call today and mention this article.