Essential Estate Planning - the legal house protecting your family’s future
A house and a sound estate plan have tremendous similarities that do not immediately meet the eye. Both are comprised of a firm foundation to build on, solid walls to protect all sides, and a roof to shelter when the proverbial sky is falling. But a house is a legitimate structure and an estate plan is just a bunch of legal documents with no foundation, walls, or a roof. What gives? The analogy will unfold below.
Foundation – The Will
Most houses are built on a poured or laid foundation if they are truly built to withstand the constant surface shifts. A foundation supports all of the structural weight of the home. Foundations prevent walls and floors from separating and shifting. Essentially, they provide a control platform.
Similarly a Last Will and Testament functions as the foundation in an essential estate plan. How so? A Last Will and Testament gives the testator control of how their assets, both real and personal, are distributed after their death and probate process. (More on the probate in later posts.) Thoughtful planning with a will provides peace of mind for who retains custody of minor children, who takes the family home, how assets are divided, and other considerations. It is the foundation of a compressive plan. Essentially a will is a control platform.
So what happens if someone dies intestate (without a will)? Dying intestate subjects your assets to state distribution statutes. A more thorough discussion of intestacy is planned for a subsequent post, but in short if you die intestate you lose control of everything you build during your lifetime.
Walls – Durable Power of Attorney
With a firm foundation laid, the next step in building a house involves framing walls and expanding the home upwards. Walls protect against whatever, in most normal cases, the outside world can throw at a home. They are flexible enough to withstand high winds and other unpredictable weather. Security is a core human need.
A Durable Power of Attorney (POA) in many ways acts as the walls within your estate-plan. Having a POA in place protects and allows your interests to continue as normal should something catastrophic occur without having to go to court for the appointment of a guardian. As your Agent, the person must act and protect your best interest. Like walls on your house, a POA protects against the unpredictable nature of life and adds security.
Roof - Healthcare POA and Living Will
Atop every home is a roof. Similar to walls, roofs protect against nature’s unpredictability. It also ties the walls together helping to hold them in place. Often out of sight and out of mind a roof provides protection from the proverbial “sky is falling” situations.
In the simplest of terms, a Healthcare POA and Living Will serve as your last line of defense in crisis situations. Like the POA mentioned above, the Healthcare POA gives your Agent the power to make health care decisions that are in your best interest should you become incapable of doing so for yourself. The caveat with this set of documents is the Living Will portion that sets out specific instructions for how critical medical situations are handled. These combined documents are your last line of defense in any “sky is falling” situation.
Do not hesitate to contact The Skeen Firm today if you feel like your Estate Planning “house” is not in order. With free consultations and preliminary reviews of existing plans there is no better time than now to secure your family’s future.
*Disclaimer: the advice provided is for informational purposes and is not intended as legal advice. It should not be relied on, nor construed as creating an attorney-client relationship.