In the middle of a Georgia summer, the days are long and it seems like we’ve got more time for the things we enjoy. The kids are out of school, and work slows down a little. If we’re lucky, we get some extra time with our family, spend lazy days at the pool, and vacation with children and grandchildren. It can feel like summer will last forever.
It’s that time of year again. Yes, it is New Year’s resolution time. Was making a will one of your unfulfilled resolutions from past years? Is it on your “to-do” list for 2019? The good news is that with a modest investment of time and effort, you will be able to check this off your list in just a couple of weeks and you won’t even have to go to the gym to get it done!
In the middle of a Georgia summer, the days are long and it seems like we’ve got more time for the things we enjoy. The kids are out of school, and work slows down a little. If we’re lucky, we get some extra time with our family, spend lazy days at the pool, and vacation with children and grandchildren. It can feel like summer will last forever.
When it comes to estate planning, the most familiar document is the last will and testament. Most people have a basic understanding that a will allows you to appoint a personal representative (an executor) upon your death and directs that person to distribute your assets as you specify. Put another way, a will says who gets your stuff when you die—but until you die, it does nothing.
The numbers vary somewhat from survey to survey, but each new study that is released reveals that large numbers of Americans do not have a will. Not having a will is shorthand for not having any estate planning in place.
To begin planning your estate is to think through the intricacies of your life, to think about your values and your family. But there is nitty-gritty you might be overlooking: the financial, the legal, and the shared understandings. Make time to consider what you might be overlooking before planning in earnest.
The largest obstacle to effective estate planning is procrastination. Sitting down to prepare a Last Will and Testament is not at the top of anyone’s “this is a fun thing to do” list. Yet death, like taxes is a certainty.
Everybody has a story, or has heard a story, about the nightmare that unfolded when a loved one’s life was tragically interrupted or cut short by injury or illness. Such a time in any family is fraught with fear, chaos and indecision.
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