When it comes to estate planning, drawing up a plan—and completing it—spells out your intentions for distributing your estate to your loved ones, cherished places, and favorite organizations. Getting all your affairs in order and all your accounts squared away is the smart thing to do and makes life much easier for your beneficiaries. However, the sad fact is, that while many people get the process started with good intentions, they do not fully complete their estate plans. Here are some things to keep in mind when planning for the future.
Never Assume
If you’re looking into having an estate plan or if you’ve already had one written up, pay close attention to any further actions you need to take. The deal is not done simply because your plan has been drafted by a lawyer. Sadly, we as daily money managers have come across people who’ve paid thousands of dollars for their sophisticated estate plan only to never fully execute it and all the actions necessary to fully implement it.
What ends up happening is that accounts, assets, and property are not correctly updated to reflect your estate plans structure or complex planning tools including trusts, such as a revocable, irrevocable, or generation-skipping trust. Examples include updating the title on a house or retitling investment accounts into the name of the revocable trust.
Don’t Quit, Keep Going
While your legal advisor is glad to draft and execute your estate plan, there are measures you must complete to ensure all the proper ownership and beneficiary designations are completed. Much of the time, however, the client has no idea what actions to take next. If your financial advisor is not involved, your attorney might not fully explain these steps. You’ll need to be proactive in asking questions and doing research on what you’re expected to do for your estate to run smoothly once you’re gone.
It can be a lot of work, and it is often overwhelming. There might be a lot of paperwork to sign, many people to meet and speak with, or bearing the emotional toll of having to face your own death. But making the commitment to keep going when the going gets tough is the secret to the smoothest transition of accounts and assets for your loved ones. Don’t let a lack of commitment, or even a lack of patience, be what keeps you from completing your plan.
Don’t Drop the Ball
Many loved ones and beneficiaries don’t find out you’ve dropped the ball until after you’re gone. Have you forgotten to complete a vital action such as filling out an updated beneficiary designation form on your retirement accounts or bank ownership paperwork on your oldest bank accounts, or did you set it aside for another time? Don’t wait, get it done—and the sooner the better. Regardless of your lawyer’s complex written plan, you still have a lot of legwork to do once it’s written and signed. Get your investment advisor involved as well so that portion of the work gets done. Instead of dropping the ball, be on the ball and cover all your bases for when that day arrives. It’s not about perfection, but about ensuring your best intentions are reflected in the vital paperwork.
At Organized Instincts, our daily money managers know what more is needed to complete your estate plan. Schedule a call today and discuss how a daily money manager will help you implement your sophisticated estate plan.
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