Is the budget too tight to pay for an expensive estate plan right now? Why not do it yourself? How hard could it be? Actually, it can be very hard—hard on your wallet when it costs you thousands of dollars to fix the mistakes in the plan you made; and especially hard on your heirs when they’re fighting to get your estate through probate.

Creating your own estate plan may seem easy at first glance: download a couple of forms to fill out, pick your executor, list who gets what—but that’s just scratching the surface. For example, did you know that a bank account should be administered differently from a 401(k) account? Do you know how to ensure that your agents can make decisions for you without having to go through a lengthy and expensive conservatorship process? Or most simply, do you know how to keep your assets out of the probate courts?

These are only a few of the issues with which estate planning attorneys are trained to help you. Those D-I-Y forms are designed for a one-size-fits-all situation, and the truth is that there really is no such thing as a “one-size-fits-all” estate. If you have any of the following you are already beyond one-size-fits-all:

• Retirement plans
• Life insurance policies
• Children in need of guardianship
• Pets to provide for
• A desire to pay for a beneficiary’s education
• An Incapacitated Spouse
• A Disabled Child or Grandchild
• The Need To Plan For Your Future Long Term Care
  

In estate planning, as with everything else in life, you get what you pay for. Estate planning attorneys have the education, the background, and the ongoing resources to create the very best plan for your unique needs. In addition, they can ensure that your plan will hold up under rapidly changing taxes, regulations and, especially for seniors, the changing landscape of public benefits programs.

Do-it-yourself is fine for making crafts and building bookcases, but when it comes to protecting your family and your estate—get the help of a professional.

At a time when the economy is slow and money is tight, many people are looking to save money by cutting back on “unessential” expenses—including estate planning.  Although this instinct is understandable, the trend is a disturbing one.  Our firm understands the need to dig in during tough times, but what you may not realize is that by neglecting to think about your estate planning now, you may be condemning your heirs to expense and losses later.

The greatest fallacy most people have about estate planning is the belief that if they die intestate (or without a will) all of their property will go to their spouse. In fact, it is this belief that keeps many people from creating an estate plan until after one spouse dies.  But this is not necessarily true.  What happens to your estate depends on many factors, including how you held title to your assets, the state in which you live, whether you have children, your marital status and (sometimes) whether you’ve been married before, etc.  And what if the surviving spouse chooses to remarry?  There is absolutely no one answer to the question “What happens if I die without a will?”  Are you sure you want to take your chances with what might happen?

Another issue that most people just don’t understand is that probate is more often than not a very time consuming and expensive process. There is a good likelihood that your loved ones will need access to your estate in the months following your death;   unfortunately,  they may not get full access to it as promptly as they would like !   Probate court calendars, legal requirements about informing creditors, the possible need to look for other possible heirs, the possibility that other family members might contest decisions—all of these and more could, in some cases, keep your estate tied up in probate for months or years, and be unavailable to the people who need it most.

And perhaps the least understood drawback to the lack of an estate plan in a down economy is that the probate courts may force your heirs to sell valuable assets at a time when property values are at their lowest. This alone could result in significant losses to the estate that you pass on to your beneficiaries, not to mention probate fees and estate taxes that might have been saved had you planned ahead.

Estate planning may feel like an unnecessary expense, but the more you understand the more you realize just how essential it is.  Creating your estate plan now could be the best investment you make for your family’s future.

Every parent knows how miraculously fast children seem to grow and develop. So many parents find themselves marveling that their child’s foot ever fit into that tiny set of infant socks, or wistfully packing up the blocks and books their child has outgrown for electronic games or more mature interests. It is cliché to say that children grow like weeds, but it’s an undeniable truth, and it’s important to remember that clothes and toys are not the only things our children will outgrow. They also will outgrow your estate plan.

This is not to say that they will no longer need the protection of your estate plan—not at all! But they will need you to update that plan. Careful provisions for legal guardians and daily maintenance will make way for education trusts to encourage college and graduate degrees, which will in turn make way for asset protection provisions to keep your child’s inheritance safe from predators, creditors, or divorce.   Whatever your child’s age, our firm can help tailor a plan that fits his or her unique and changing needs.

Luckily,  children don’t outgrow estate plans as quickly or as often as they do clothes, but it’s a good idea to review your plan periodically to make sure it still protects and provides for your growing family. A plan that takes great care in nominating guardians is great for your 5 year old daughter, but it won’t do much good if that daughter is grown and perhaps caring for her own child.

Don’t let your estate plan become obsolete as your children grow,.  Keep it relevant and updated and rest easy in the knowledge that whatever their ages, you will always be giving your children exactly what they need.

Women in the United States have a unique set of estate planning needs, not the least of which has to do with the fact that they outlive their husbands by an average of 7 years, and are more likely than their male counterparts to become the family caregiver. So why is it that so few women have these much-needed estate plans in place?

Wynne Whitman knows how important it is that women get involved in their own estate planning, and addressed the issue in her book Smart Women Protect Their Assets. Whitman was recently interviewed by Forbes.com, and had a lot to say about why creating an estate plan is not just important but essential—and not just for women.

One of the key points in the interview comes when Whitman points out that many people think estate planning is only for those with large estates and a lot of assets—this is not the case! Aside from the fact that most families DO have a lot of assets (once you take into account the value of your home and any life insurance policies) estate planning is not just about protecting those assets from estate taxes, “it’s also about planning for your children and naming guardians,” says Whitman, not to mention planning for your own health care and end-of-life decisions.

If you’re reading this and thinking “But I’m unmarried and don’t have any children, I don’t need to create an estate plan—” Think again. You may want your estate to help your nieces and nephews pay for college, or you may want to give a portion of your estate to your favorite charitable cause. Or perhaps you’d like it to go to your partner or best friend. You can be sure that none of these things will happen unless you have a plan in place.

At one point during the interview, Whitman was asked to define what makes an effective estate plan. Her answer is deceptively simple, but goes straight to the heart of why every person—man or woman, married or single, wealthy or just getting by—should create an estate plan. It’s not just about taxes and it’s not just about children, it is about both of these and more: “It is dictating what you want to happen.”

“The Geat people built a pyre for Beowulf, stacked and decked it until it stood four-square, hung with helmets, heavy war-shields and shining armour, just as he had ordered. Then his warriors laid him in the middle of it, mourning a lord far-famed and beloved.” (From Beowulf, translated by Seamus Heaney)

Funerals get great coverage in literature. Especially at the end of epic stories, a funeral is the perfect way to allow readers to mourn and say goodbye to the heroes with whom they have spent hundreds of pages and countless reading hours. In literature, a funeral is a transition, making it a little bit easier for the reader to re-enter the mundane world.

Funerals in reality are not so different. They are ceremonies to help us with the difficult act of saying goodbye to a loved one, and ensuring that we don’t have to do it alone and unsupported. As important as funerals and memorial services are, they deserve just as much thought and discussion as any other important ceremony.

In estate planning, discussion of memorial ceremonies often goes along with the discussion of end-of-life decisions. As lawyers, we often ask if you wish to include in your Advance Health Care Directive your instructions for the disposition of your remains. This sometimes comes as a shock to clients, many of whom may never have thought about the subject before. We are now beginning to go even further, and ask clients about their wishes for their funeral or memorial serivce. Giving your loved ones some kind of guidance for these important life cycle events can be a great gift,  will help ease their burden in a time of sorrow, and will help bring peace and closure to the people who love you most.

Any parent will tell you that the birth (or adoption) of a child shifts the nature of your thinking irrevocably. One day you look around and discover that your own wants and needs are no longer at the center of your life. We see evidence of this shift when planning for parents of young children, who come to us because they want to know how to protect and provide for their kids should anything happen to them (the parents).

It turns out; this instinctual drive to protect and provide for our offspring may be the easier part of parenting, according to this article in today’s New York Times. The hard part may be finding time to protect and provide for your own needs, and the needs of your marriage. The article, which is actually about empty-nesters, cites research that indicates that as much as we love our children, “marital satisfaction actually improves once the children make their exits,” whether it be to college, marriage, or employment and independence.

What is interesting about this article from an estate planning perspective is that these two milestones—having children and watching them leave the nest—are the most important times to update your estate plan. The needs of your children when they are 2, 6 or 10 won’t be the same as their needs at the age of 20 or 30. Not only that, but your priorities as a parent and a person will be different as well: As a parent of young children your top priorities are likely to be guardianship and providing for your child’s education and well-being; as an empty-nester you may be more concerned with protecting your retirement or beginning to plan for Long Term Care.

A good estate plan is one that reflects your priorities during each stage of your life. Our firm understands that, and we urge you to contact us when any of these milestones come along.