This week is National Estate Planning Awareness Week, which is designated by Congress to educate people about the importance of estate planning. Additionally, it serves as a nice annual reminder to review your estate planning to see if any updates are needed. Events necessitating updates to your estate plan include changes in your assets or family composition, changes in health or a shift in your estate planning goals.
This is also a great time to encourage your family’s next generation members to take the time to create estate planning documents. Even if they won’t see family wealth for years and are young and healthy, they still need to complete basic estate planning documents. Young adults leaving their parents’ homes to attend college or further schooling or to begin working should especially be sure that they have their basic estate planning documents in place.
Since parents cannot legally make financial or health care decisions for a child over 18, every adult should, at a minimum, have a durable power of attorney and a patient advocate designation. These documents name decision-makers who can assist with financial management or medical decisions, respectively, in the event a family member needs additional help managing their financial or medical affairs in the future. The durable power of attorney (DPA) is commonly used to safeguard the assets of the DPA’s signer (who is known as the principal) and allows an agent to temporarily or permanently manage assets and financial affairs in the event of the principal’s incapacity during their lifetime. Similarly, the patient advocate designation (PAD) is used to ensure there is a designated person or persons who can make health care decisions for the patient if they become medically incapacitated. Both documents also provide instructions to the agent who is making the decisions regarding the principal’s or patient’s wishes in the event of incapacity.
Finally, all adults should be certain that they have appropriate beneficiaries or transfer-on-death designations (TOD) on record for each of their financial accounts, retirement plans and life insurance policies. The individual(s) named as beneficiary or under a TOD designation will receive the account proceeds upon the death of the owner, regardless of what the decedent’s will sets forth. Use of beneficiary or TOD designations is an excellent method to avoid probate of a person’s assets, but these should be carefully reviewed by an attorney to confirm they are appropriate in light of tax planning considerations and the overall estate plan.
National Estate Planning Awareness Week is meant to encourage people to create planning documents, and keep them updated, so that surviving loved ones don’t end up with a complicated burden or unexpected tax bill to deal with in their time of grief. This is important for everyone over the age of 18.
