All adults over age 18 should have some basic estate planning documents in place. And this is true regardless of how much money you have, whether you are married or single, and whether or not you have kids. On that note, if you are an adult of any age and the pandemic didn’t inspire you to create your estate plan, here are four reasons why you shouldn’t wait another day to get your plan started.

01 | INCAPACITY LEAVES YOU VULNERABLE

Most people assume estate planning only comes into play when they die, but that’s dead wrong — pun fully intended. Although planning for your eventual death is a big part of the process, it’s just as important — if not more so — to plan for your potential incapacity due to a serious accident or illness.

If you become incapacitated without an estate plan, your family would have to petition the court to appoint a conservator to manage your legal, financial, and medical affairs. This process can be extremely costly, time-consuming, and traumatic for everyone involved. Plus, the court could appoint a family member you’d never want in control of such crucial decisions (just look at what happened to Britney Spears), or the court could appoint a professional guardian, which would give a total stranger nearly complete control of your life and your assets.

With the systems utilized by our Personal Family Lawyer®, we can help you put estate planning vehicles in place that grants the person(s) of your choice the immediate authority to make your medical, financial, and legal decisions for you in the event of your incapacity. We can also implement estate planning strategies that provide specific guidelines detailing exactly how you want your medical care to be managed during your incapacity, including critical end-of-life decisions.