The children were so young and cute back then. They played with dolls and trucks and each other. Now they’re taller than you and off at school or careers. Things have changed. Or have they?
One of the things that might not have changed over the years: your estate plan. You sat down with a trusted attorney long ago and put together a plan to protect you and your family. But the details of those documents have been largely forgotten since then.
If some of that sounds familiar to you, and reminds you of your situation, it is clearly time to sit down and update the plan you have. You might do well to add estate-planning tools that have become more common than they were back in the day.
Items such as trusts, a financial power of attorney and a health care power of attorney are powerful tools that protect you and your assets in the event that you become incapacitated.
Naturally, some readers will think, “I didn’t make an estate plan years ago, so none of this really applies.” Well, we’re going to borrow a bit from an article on estate planning that we read recently. It said that “if you are over the age of 18 and mentally competent, at a minimum, you should have a will, a financial power of attorney and a health care power of attorney.”
Of course, if you have children, your motivation to create a comprehensive estate plan is even greater. And if you have substantial assets, you should have in place a plan that safeguards the assets you worked so hard to acquire.
If you made an estate plan in the past, sit down and look it over with someone who understands how to use the law to protect you and your family; someone who can help you understand all the options available.
