You intend to pass along your wealth through your estate plan, but what about your wisdom? Ensuring you accomplish both calls for a family meeting to have a conversation about your money, your legacy, and your core principles. Most families lead far-flung and busy lives, meaning the only time they see one another face-to-face is around the dinner table during a handful of major holidays. The estate planning process is a perfect opportunity to bring everyone together outside of those scheduled occasions — even if a child or grandchild has to attend via video chat. Working with your estate planning attorney in collaboration any other advisors you have in your corner can make this legacy-enriching process seamless and genuinely enjoyable. But bringing your family and your professional advisors into the conversation is better yet, as they’ll get to learn new things about you and get to share stories and memories of their own. Here are just a few of the topics you’ll want to go over dur
If you’re reading this, you need an estate plan. Why? The short answer is “Everyone, age 18 and older needs an estate plan.” It doesn’t matter if you are old or young, if you have built up considerable wealth or if you are just entering adulthood —you need a written plan to keep you in control and to protect yourself and those you love. The Key Takeaways Every adult, regardless of age or wealth, needs both a lifetime plan and an after-death estate plan. Planning for incapacity will keep you in control and let your trusted loved ones care for you without court interference - and without the loss of control and expense of a guardianship or conservatorship proceeding. Every adult needs up-to-date health care directives. You need to leave written instructions to make sure you are the one who selects who’s in charge of when and how your assets will be distributed. We all need the counseling and assistance of an experienced estate planning attorney. What is an Estate Plan? Your estate