On behalf of Law Offices of Frye, Fortich & Garcia, P.L. | September 12, 2022 | Estate Planning
Why should you get your estate plan taken care of as soon as possible?
Provide For Your Family
Without a proper estate plan in place, your family may get less that what you expect them to receive from your estate and it may take them longer to get it. This means your loved ones might be left in limbo without enough money to pay bills and other living expenses. It is not uncommon for families with an unexpected death to nearly fall apart due to the financial strain in the weeks, months, and years to come.
Good estate planning will make sure that your family is provided for and not left to face financial ruin once you are gone.
Keep Your Children Out Of Child Protective Services
Take a minute and ask yourself what would happen to your kids if you and/or your spouse were involved in a major car accident on the way home from work tomorrow?
Who will pick them up from school or daycare? Where will they sleep that night and the nights to come? Who will ultimately end up as their guardian?
With a proper estate plan in place, you can decide who has custody of your minor children. Without any such planning, in a worst-case scenario, your kids might end up in Child Protective Services while the courts sort out who will serve as their guardian.
Minimize Your Expenses
Do you know where most of the money goes when people do not have an estate plan? Attorney’s fees and court costs.
When you die without an estate plan (and without a living trust, in particular) the courts are forced to handle everything: the distribution of your property, the guardianship of your children, the dissolution of your business. This is known as “probate,” and it gets very expensive — easily exceeding $10,000 for even modest estates. That is money your family and kids could used for living expenses and other bills, instead going to pay attorneys and court costs.
Get Property To Loved Ones Quickly
You have two options here. Option 1, your family has to wait anywhere from six months to a year (or sometimes even more) to get anything after you die. Option 2, your family gets the money they need to pay bills, pay for your funeral, pay for your outstanding medical bills, and to pay for anything else they need right away and without delay.
Which one would you choose? Proper estate planning lets you avoid delays that can put a real strain on your family.
Save Your Family From The Difficult Decisions
Can you imagine trying to decide when to pull the plug on your spouse who is in a coma or similar condition? Or deciding how his or her remains should be handled?
Those are heartbreaking decisions that no one should have to face. You can ease this burden upon your loved ones by planning for it in advance. You can specify in your estate plan how you want end-of-life care to be handled and what kind of arrangements you want to be made for your remains.
Reduce Taxes
Every single dollar that you pay in taxes is one less dollar that your family will have for paying bills and other expenses. There are numerous tax reduction strategies that you can use to keep as much money in the hands of your family as possible. The key is to start tax planning sooner rather than later — and definitely not to wait until it’s too late.
Make Retirement Easier
You might be surprised to hear that estate planning can actually benefit you while you are alive, and not just after death. Healthcare in particular is an area where estate planning can benefit you enormously down the road by making sure you are eligible for certain government benefits that can significantly reduce your healthcare costs and leave more money to your loved ones.
Plan For Incapacity
Estate planning is not just about death. It is very common for people to become incapacitated by an accident or sudden medical condition that leaves them unable to manage their financial affairs or make their own health decisions.
If this happens to you, who will take care of paying your bills or managing your healthcare? A power of attorney designation for both financial and healthcare decisions can save your family a lot of time and money and make sure everything is handled according to your wishes.
Support Your Favorite Cause
You might have heard that Mark Zuckerberg (the founder of Facebook) decided to join Bill Gates and Warren Buffet in leaving the vast majority of his fortune to charity instead of his family. Even though you do not have billions of dollars to leave to charity, you can still make a difference by supporting your favorite charitable cause. Even if it is just a hundred dollars, that money can help others and make a difference in their lives.
Make Sure Your Business Runs Smoothly
If you are a small business owner, then you absolutely must have an estate plan. Without proper planning as to the continued operation or management of your business, your disability or death can cause incredible financial hardship to your family.
You have the opportunity to provide for an orderly transition to someone else and continue the business by spelling out what happens if you become disabled or die.
You should discuss your estate planning needs with a Florida estate planning attorney, contact us to schedule an initial consultation.
