The Self-Consciously Incomplete Estate Plan

The scariest thing about estate planning is that death is forever. How do you make financial plans for all eternity, especially when you will not be around to implement them? It sounds like a thought experiment, the only logical conclusion to which is resignation, like the anticlimactic ending of the Gilgamesh epic, where the hero, distraught at the death of his friend, goes on a quest for immortality, only to come back empty-handed. If you see your estate plan in such absolute terms, it is no wonder that you are intimidated to get started on it. Remember that your estate plan only becomes permanent when you die, even in the case of documents that have words like “final” and “irrevocable” in their titles. Assume that, right now, you really are too young to make an estate plan, but that you are getting started now, so you can make your estate planning work easier in the future, when you need an estate plan. In other words, a retiree’s best friend is his or her younger self, and if you and your young self need help drafting documents that will benefit your older self, contact an Orlando estate planning lawyer.

Draft a Will Now and Establish a Trust Later

It is possible to find vast amounts of web content about the respective merits of wills and trusts. In fact, it would not be surprising if the chatbots that unthinkingly spit out most of what we read online learned their trade from countless articles about the question of wills versus trusts. The ideal estate plan, especially for someone who owns enough property for it to be worth worrying about, has both. This does not mean that you must do both at the same time, in a single visit to an estate planning lawyer.

Write a Will That You Know Your Kids Will Grow Out Of

If you have children, then what determines whether you need a will is not whether you own enough property for your children to inherit a substantial amount. The criterion is also not whether your children have a stepparent. Rather, if your children exist, you need a will. It must specify what should happen if you and your children’s other parent both die when the children are minors. Who will live with the children?  Who will be the guardian of their property, who will be accountable to the court in the management of the children’s inherited assets? The guardian of the children’s property and the person who has physical custody of them do not have to be the same person. Once your children reach adulthood, you can rewrite your will, changing the relevant provisions so that your children will inherit their shares of your estate in their own right.

Contact Gierach and Gierach About Placeholder Estate Plans

An estate planning lawyer can help you if you are indecisive about almost every aspect of your estate plan, but you need to get words on paper.  Contact Gierach and Gierach, P.A. in Orlando, Florida to discuss your case.

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