Make Your Estate Easier for Your Family: 4 Reasons

It can be difficult to approach the task of estate planning without confronting your own morbidity. Most people hope they’ll live for many more years and be able to provide care for their family members or spouse along that period. However, sitting down with an estate planning attorney is strongly recommended as it can help protect your loved ones and your money in four unique ways.

You can make things much easier for your family overall by ensuring that your wishes are represented in your documented plan. You’ll reduce their stress and protect your desires if something happens to you and you’re unable to speak for yourself.

These include:

• Naming guardians for minor children, so that these children do not become wards of the state and are able to be raised by people you know, like and trust.

• Creating financial security that helps protect your family’s overall finances in the event you pass away or become incapacitated using tools such as life insurance policies, trusts, and wills.

• Minimizing tax burdens by thinking about all of the various tax responsibilities potentially placed on your loved ones, and using strategies such as trusts, gifting and charitable giving to accomplish these goals in advance.

• Making difficult health care decisions end-of-life for you.

Estate planning is about so much more than determining who will receive your assets. It’s also about thinking through your end-of-life decisions and what will happen in medical emergencies. By making these decisions in advance and clearly documenting them as part of your estate plan, you remove the burden for your loved ones having to go to court to argue over this and make it easier for you to get the care you do need in a time of crisis.

Need help figuring out what’s first? Contact our Virginia Beach estate planners for assistance.