Should Everyone Have An Estate Plan?
If you think an estate plan is only for the wealthy, it’s best to continue reading this article. An estate plan covers your wishes and instructions to your bereaved family regarding your assets and possessions. These possessions include your investments, life insurance, furniture, savings accounts, real estate, cars, and other personal possessions.
By having an estate plan, your family can focus on mourning your loss because your estate plan will do its part to help you with the following:
1. Avoid The Chaos
When you don’t have an estate plan, the court will decide what happens to your assets and your minor children. The court will also appoint a person responsible for taking care of your money to raise your minor children.
Sounds easy, right? However, for most families, that’s not the case. Your family may disagree with the court’s decisions, especially if it involves your assets. Although they can contest the decision, it’ll take time and money. Some even spend more than what they get from a bereaved one’s estate.
To avoid such, prepare an estate plan so you can decide who will take care of your assets and your minor children in case you pass away.
You can choose someone you trust to take care of your investments, whether they carry on with your businesses or sell your assets. selling a deceased estate requires permission from the executor or someone the court appointed to care for your assets. However, you can let your loved ones sell your assets without the court’s involvement when you prepare an estate plan.
2. Leave A Legacy
Aside from avoiding a chaotic situation after your death, an estate plan will also help you leave your legacy. You may have worked hard to attain your estate, and leaving it to the right people is essential. If you want them to continue what you’ve established, an estate plan will ensure that your legacy will be in the hands of someone you appointed.
Don’t worry about preparing your estate plan because you can hire professionals to help you with it. Even if you can draft an estate plan on your own, hiring professionals like Mile High Estate Planning will help you do it right because they can comply with the relevant state laws.
In a comprehensive estate plan, you can name your beneficiaries, executors, wills, and trusts. All of these estate planning documents are vital so you can entrust your assets to people who can handle them.
3. Carry Out Your Wishes
Most importantly, estate planning can guide your bereaved ones on how to carry on with your wishes. For instance, you may want to donate some of your assets to an organization. Or, in case of health issues, you may want to leave specific instructions on what your family should do in the form of an estate plan.
That way, even if you can’t speak, they know what future care arrangements to make based on what you included in your estate plan. Maybe you don’t want to spend your last moments with a breathing apparatus; you can put that into writing. Some even add their plans of donating their internal organs to help other people in case of their demise.
These decisions may be hard on your family’s part, but the estate plan will bind them to carry out your instructions.
Conclusion
Even if you don’t own mansions, you still have other assets that need proper disposal or arrangement. An estate plan will help you allocate your assets while preventing your family from experiencing the stress of disputes and court rulings. Moreover, you can help them carry out financial or medical decisions based on your instructions.
