The planning of estate disposal is, at best, a morbid
experience. In doing so you are
admitting that you will die someday. I
know that until I was married this was not something I gave a lot of thought
to. Then I contracted cancer and it
became an even greater priority. It is
human nature, I suppose, to ignore planning estate distribution, until it can
no longer be avoided. Yet, in today's
world of inexpensive solutions such as http://www.legalzoom.com
there is no excuse to not have at least a will and probably to add a
trust. You can no longer use expense as
justification since planning can unburden your heirs from distributing your
estate using the simplest means available. Keep in mind, your heirs may not be in a
position when you pass to take time to handle the estate with the diligence you
might want or expect. There can be
travel or grief interfering in the assessment of your desires when you go. Detailing wishes in advance and keeping them
up to date reduces the anxiety of such times and provides you peace of
mind. Simplicity is the key, since
following your passing the bereft will be BERIEVED, making the job difficult
enough on its own merit.
On the health side you need to create a medical power of
attorney to authorize someone to make decisions if you are not able to. You also need a living will to detail your
wishes with respect to life-sustaining activities such as feeding tubes. Along with these decision making documents,
you should prepare for the distribution of your property. Along with a will or trust you need to look
at all your IRAs, life insurance, retirement plans, bank accounts and other
assets that have beneficiary designations.
Beneficiary designations supersede what is in your will, so it is
critical step in your estate planning to make sure the beneficiaries are
up-to-date with your wishes. So, let's
start with a personal story…
A personal example of
an estate without a will or trust
Years ago my bother perished in an auto accident at the
young age of 36. At the time, I had knee
surgery in Michigan so I could only fly to my parent's home in Virginia while
in a wheelchair. When I reached their
house, after they picked me up at the airport, I had to witness the chaos
surrounding this event and comfort my hysterical parents. There is no greater loss to a parent than
that of losing a child and since I could not walk I was smack dab in the middle
of everything. I could only dream of
moving my wheelchair out of the living room since I had to answer the
door.
During my brief stay I was only able to pay a short-lived
visit to my brother's house during the
days my company allowed me off of work. I managed in all the chaos of that visit to
snatch up a very few things to remember him by which I packed into my suit
cases for my flight back to Michigan. The
accident occurred at the beginning of the month and rent was paid through the
end of the month, so we had plenty of time to deal with his belongings. Thus, I made arrangements with friends in
Virginia that in a couple weeks I could drive down again to move his stuff into
storage. I could then go through it when
I had time to reflect on the loss, look at his belongings, and absorb what he
meant to me in our life together. Most
of all I wanted to keep and distribute a few more things beyond the few items I
had to remember him by. Weeks later I
drove 10.5 hours to empty his house only to find out how irrational grieving
parents can become.
My parent's knee-jerk reaction was to put this tragic event
behind them as quickly as possible. All
my brother's belongings had been given to charity. There were a few possessions left, such as a
damaged TV, stereo equipment with the wires ripped out of because they did not
know how to unhook them, and a bunch of old VCR tapes. There were people he loved: a very caring
girlfriend, me, and a few close friends that I know he would have wanted to get
some things to.
There was no will. He
had not named an executor. Also he had
no life insurance or cash to speak of so he was cremated and buried above my
grandparents which he may or may not have wanted. I hope this story shows the advantage of
lifting up those you love by making your wishes known and using proper estate
planning tools before you no longer have the chance. Remember, people you care about may not have
time, convenient proximity, presence of mind, or accurate assessments of your
desires when you go. Detailing wishes in
advance and keeping them up to date reduces the anxiety of such times and
provides peace of mind.
I cannot take full credit for this blog entry and Henri Q.
Feep as he chooses to be known helped me with this writing, ThatCyberSecurityGuy.