Why Do Estate Planning?
You may know firsthand in your own life or through your friends or family the disruption that can take place when a person’s affairs are not in order: Family members fighting over their inheritance. Uncertainly about who will raise minor children who have lost their parents. Fears that an inheritance left to a child or grandchild will be lost to creditors, lost in a divorce, or lost because of poor money handling skills or a drug, alcohol or gambling addiction. A loved one in a coma or slowly dying in a hospital, unable to communicate, with nobody clearly in charge of making medical decisions. An extended nursing home stay destroying the assets of a family accumulated over a lifetime of hard work, leaving little or nothing for a surviving spouse or children. Worry about providing for the needs of a disabled or “special needs” minor or adult child. Families forced to sell a family home or business because the breadwinner has died without adequate planning, or because the government want
Most people do estate planning because they want to control who will receive their assets after they die, and they want this to happen with the least amount going to legal fees and taxes. But estate planning is not just about what happens after you die. A good estate plan will also protect you at incapacity. It will let you — not the courts — keep control of your assets and control of decisions about your medical care when you can no longer handle your own affairs. So, who needs to do estate planning?
