If you’ve been waiting to create or update your estate plan, now is the perfect time to finally get it done! National Estate Planning Awareness Week brings along a great opportunity for you to protect yourself, your loved ones, and leave behind a legacy you can be proud of.
What is Estate Planning?
The term ‘estate planning’ includes all aspects of documenting your wishes surrounding end of life care, who inherits your belongings, and who you want to manage your estate. If you are new to estate planning, let’s dive in a little deeper to how it works for you.
Little Known Facts about Estate Planning
For some, estate planning can seem daunting or something that only extremely wealthy people need. First, estate planning is for everyone, we all need a plan in place to ensure that not only are our loved ones protected, but that we ourselves are also protected while we are still around.
Here are a few things to consider when thinking about your estate plan:
- Flexible and customized
There is no ‘one size fits all’ in estate planning, and the tools and strategies are meant to be tailored for each unique personal situation. Of course, there are general wills you can get, but this really undermines one of the best things about estate planning, where your plan is completely customized to meet your family’s needs.
- You can take one step at a time
You don’t have to create everything all at once. For example, you might decide that the highest priority for you is getting a power of attorney to ensure that your health care wishes are carried out. This is a great place to start and will get you thinking about the next steps.
- You can change your mind
For those of you who already have an estate plan – congratulations! But, once you complete your initial estate plan, it’s not really ‘done’ forever. Over time, you may alter distribution amounts, beneficiaries, and representatives if circumstances become different. You can change your mind at any point with no restrictions.
- Private and confidential
Related to the advantage of making changes, your estate plan is completely private and confidential between you and your attorney. There is no public record, and it cannot be accessed by anyone (unless you share it). What this means is that you don’t have to inform beneficiaries of your plan’s content and strategies if you choose not to. This privacy gives you ultimate flexibility when making changes, without needing any explanation or justification.
Are you ready to finally get this done?
Take advantage of Estate Planning Awareness Week to finally get this done for you and your loved ones. Give us a call at (951) 445-4114 to get started on the path to planning today for peace of mind tomorrow.
