Estate planning is probably on most of your minds right now. As we face these unprecedented times with daily announcements of the current death toll from this Coronavirus, it begs the question are my affairs in order?
The biggest misconception among many is that because you don’t have a huge amount of assets, you think you do not need an estate plan. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Everyone has an estate. The purpose of an estate plan is to give you the control of how that estate is going to be handled instead of letting the government decide, or some Judge who has never met you and has about 15 minutes on his or her docket to hear the facts and make a decision.
And while the assets of your estate are important, I think an even more critical aspect of estate planning is determining who is going to make decisions for you while you are still alive.
Who is going to make your medical decisions for you when you do not have the capacity to do so? Do you have a partner, live-in friend or someone else close to you who is not a family member that you would prefer to be in charge? Who will decide if you go to a nursing home and which one it will be? And what funds will be used? Who gets access to your bank accounts and investments? Remember, nothing says incapacity is permanent. You could be in a car wreck and because of swelling on the brain be put into an induced coma for a month while you heal. You want to make sure that your estate is in the proper hands and not being depleted while you are incapacitate, yet healing to your whole self again. A Living Will, Healthcare Surrogate, and Power of Attorney will get those decision in place for you.
So how, with all the social distancing and closed offices, can you get your estate plan in place? The good news is that you do not have to wait for this pandemic to be over to get your affairs in place. Emergency orders have been put into place here in Kentucky that allows us to witness signatures through video. We stay safe, you stay safe, and you have the comfort of knowing that your wishes are properly on paper should you be faced with unforeseen medical needs.
Email me for a free consultation! I would love to make sure that you understand the complexities of your estate and to compile a custom plan that meets your needs. You can contact me at kylawyers@gmail.com. You have enough to be concerned about during this pandemic, let’s take your estate plan off that worry plate.