Estate Plan Check-Ups
Ashley Day Law
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May 02, 2024
Alabama - Gulf Coast
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Estate Plan Check-Ups
Effective estate planning is personal, and it’s more than
just deciding who to leave your assets to once you die. Effective estate planning is a comprehensive process that encompasses pre-need
planning: health care decisions, financial management, and maintaining a
delicate balance between independence and security. Like your preventive doctor visits, you should
regularly check in on your estate plan to ensure it fits your current needs, considers
and plans for potential future care needs, and will give effect to your wishes
now and in the future.
Generally, estate planning involves creating a last will and
testament, possibly a revocable trust, possibly an asset protection trust or a
supplemental needs trust for a loved one who is unable to manage finances or
may be vulnerable to abuse or exploitation.
Estate planning also involves important advanced directives, such as a
durable financial power of attorney, a health care power of attorney, and a
living will. Creating an estate plan,
or “getting my affairs in order,” tends to be an item on our to-do lists, for
us to get done and move on to the next thing. However, while it may not be
something you have to look at every month, or even every year, once your
initial estate plan is completed, it is something that needs to be reviewed
with some regularity.
Most people get an annual physical when they are healthy,
not when they are sick. They do this because they want to proactively spot any
issues that could cause them to become ill in the future. The same concept can
and should be applied when it comes to reviewing and updating your estate plan.
Your estate plan may be “healthy” now, but you want to make sure that it stays
that way by checking it regularly, to ensure it fits your needs and family
circumstances, protects and provides for you now, and accomplishes your goals and wishes in the
future.
Editor’s Note: This article is for informational purposes
only and is not intended to be legal advice.
This article was submitted by Ashley Day, Esq. Ashley Day Law, LLC. Reach her at 251-277-3377.
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