Who needs an estate plan?

No matter how simple your situation may be, estate planning is for pretty much everyone.

When you think about estate planning, you might imagine wealthy people with high powered lawyers and offshore accounts. But estate planning is really just coordinating the creation of needed legal documents along with clear instructions about your wishes. 

For example, each of us should have a living will to guide medical care if we become incapacitated. But what happens after that? You may need extended care. You may be entirely unable to return home. Who decides what to do with your house? Your pets? If you care for children or grandchildren, who would step in? 

And legal documents don’t provide practical guidance about your entire estate. Your estate includes everything – your home, your vehicles, life insurance policies, furniture, clothes and personal belongings, everything in the shed or storage unit, Aunt Martha’s china, your books, photo albums and papers – everything.

At www.willandaway.com, we covered all of the important areas from your assets and finances to who owes you money and where you bank. After all, you don’t want to leave your family scrambling in case of your disability, a disaster or even your untimely death.

Ellen Kate wrote about her personal experience for Her Money:

At the end of 2012, my partner died suddenly. He was 40, I was 37, and our two kids were only 3 and 6. His death from a rare heart condition was a devastating shock. But so was the matter of closing out his estate, something I assumed we were decades away from having to address.

Dealing with things like paying his bills, filing his taxes, and accessing his bank account were not only emotionally exhausting and anxiety inducing, but expensive and complicated.

All of this could have been made a lot easier had we just put some fairly basic paperwork in place. And while some of it’s doubly important if you aren’t married, most of it is needed even if you are.

(Five Must Dos To Put On Your Estate-Planning Checklist, Ellen Kate for Her Money, September 4, 2018)

Everyone needs a will – that’s critical. But legal documents don’t give your personal agent all of the practical information they will need. Your willandaway.com account is the perfect place to list all of the details of your messy life and your wishes in case of disaster, disability or your death. Life is uncertain. Gain a little peace of mind with Will and a Way.

Information shared here is not to be taken as legal or financial advice. Suggestions and resources are presented for your consideration and may or may not apply to your personal situation. Please consult your advisers.

Information shared here is not to be taken as legal or financial advice. Suggestions and resources are presented for your consideration and may or may not apply to your personal situation. Please consult your advisers.