ESTATE PLANNING CONSIDERATIONS

1. 

   Why create an Estate Plan? why not let simply your family deal with it after you are gone?

Here is how creating an Estate Plan now benefits both you and your loved ones:

• The benefit to you is peace of mind; should anything unexpected happen (and we all know that the unexpected is to be expected in life), your wishes will be clearly articulated and carried out. 

• The benefit to your loved ones is that they will not have to engage in guesswork, disputes or unnecessary stress associated with helping you in your time of need or once you are no longer with them. This is an invaluable gift for everyone involved. During times of crisis our loved ones want to focus on being there for us or to honor us, not wrestling with overwhelming decisions regarding safeguarding person and property. 

2. How can you move past your resistance to engaging in this process? 

Most of us have a natural and very human resistance to the concept of our own mortality, and as a result, avoid thinking about it at all costs.  This is normal and stems from the innate desire to preserve life, which is wonderful! But most of us also realize that avoidance is not a solution; proactive decision-making is in our best interest and as with anything in life, prevention is the key to avoiding hassles. 

• Estate planning is essentially a form of insurance. We don’t think twice about insuring our health, our homes, our cars and even our pets. We spend thousands of dollars on these forms of securing our homes and properties annually, but often don’t consider securing our person and property in the event of unexpected life changes; establishing an estate plan is typically an investment 

• As proud Americans, we cherish our independence and constitutional rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; included in those precious rights is the right to decide what will happen to us and to our assets if we are either temporarily or permanently unable to make decisions; the sole way to do that is to do it in advance of a change in life circumstances. By failing to take charge of your destiny in advance, the unknown is far more of a daunting prospect than considering your options in advance. Also, once its handled, you can put it out of your mind until you actually want to consider it. 

• Some people are stuck in the decision-making process and think that they have to have all components figured out before approaching the attorney to seek an estate plan; this is not correct.  Many clients approach the process with missing ‘puzzle’ pieces, such as ‘who will be my designated representative’ or ‘what percentage/amount should I leave my children when one is more established than the other’.  These are the types of considerations that we are here to help you with; our role as legal counselor and advisor is to lay out your options, present potential outcomes and solutions, and ultimately, lead you to the right decision for you and your family.  You are not alone in the process, but you are ultimately in control of it.  

The challenging part of creating an Estate Plan is committing to the process; Lebensohn Law has helped countless individuals and families determine and execute the best plan for their needs, desires, values and goals. You don’t have to figure it out by yourself, we are here to help you. We know the right questions and issues to highlight to steer you along the path of determining your best course of action and how to commit it to a legally binding document.