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Making plans for your family’s future

On Behalf of | Mar 26, 2018 | Blog |

Many people enjoy making plans for the future since it gives them something to focus on and work toward. There is one plan for the future that every adult needs to make, but they won’t necessarily want it to come to fruition too soon. This is their estate plan.

When you create an estate plan, you are letting your loved ones know what you want to take place when you can’t make decisions on your own. You are also letting them know your wishes for after you pass away.

Several documents are necessary

Developing your estate plan is more than writing out your will. You have to think about how you will transfer assets to your loved ones and what kinds of care you want if you can’t make medical decisions. To handle these matters, you need to look into trusts and advanced medical directives. You need to set up power of attorney designations for your finances and your health care.

Coming up with your plan

As you are preparing to get the estate plan together, you have to think about how you want everything set up. People with larger estates might have to worry about estate taxes and find ways to minimize the tax so their family members can get as much of the estate as possible.

Typically, more valuable and larger assets, such as homes and real property, can be handled through trusts. Other assets, such as a favorite stained glass butterfly that family members might fight over, can be included in the will. Consider each asset individually to find out the best way to handle it.

Dire consequences of failing to get it done

If you pass away and don’t have an estate plan created, your assets are passed out according to North Carolina law. This means that you won’t have any say in who gets what. Your wishes to include someone in the estate plan or to exclude someone won’t be followed if it isn’t put into the appropriate documents.

Not having an estate plan in place also means that you don’t have a say in what happens with your medical care if you can’t make decisions for yourself. You could be subjected to treatments and procedures that you don’t want because your wishes aren’t properly conveyed.