Estate Planning: Ensure Your Wishes and Intentions are Carried Out

by Maya Boguslavsky, Partner at Transcend Wealth Partners

Putting off your Will and estate planning for “later” is a great temptation. Though planning for your passing or incapacity can be an uncomfortable process, completing an estate plan can provide significant peace of mind to you and your loved ones. 

Your estate plan will change and evolve over time and goes well beyond simply deciding who gets what. If you’re caring for minor children, you’ll need to appoint guardians and set up trusts. If you have a child with special needs, that trust will require further planning to ensure your child continues to receive the services they need while preserving assets for their comfort and enrichment. You may decide to leave part of your estate to a philanthropic cause you care deeply about. Do you know what happens to your digital assets (cryptocurrency, non-fungible tokens/NFTs, photos, social media and email accounts) if you are no longer able to make decisions? Is your ex-spouse still the beneficiary of your pension plans and life insurance policy?

Putting together a well-thought-out estate plan can help prevent uncertainty, confusion and significant stress on your family. Don’t wait to start on your estate planning journey until you’re faced with a scary diagnosis or leave your family scrambling to sort out legal details, assets and taxes as they grieve your death. Here are just some of the many important reasons you should tackle your estate planning now!

Appoint Trusted Persons to Carry Out Your Wishes

The COVID-19 pandemic reminded us that having a family emergency plan is essential. Have you determined who you trust to make medical decisions for you when you’re unable to advocate for yourself? Who will take charge of your financial decisions when you’re unable to? Have you identified a successor if your primary agent is also incapacitated? Making contingency plans for possible incapacity is a critical piece of your estate plan. It’s not just about planning for after your passing. Be certain to make your intentions clear by executing a Power of Attorney and a Healthcare Directive to help your family and your trusted designee carry out your wishes in a time of turmoil.

Reduce The Burden on People Close to You

A good estate plan can help reduce chaos and confusion and prevent many difficult decisions from playing out in the public eye. It’s not just in soap operas where someone dies without an estate plan and people with questionable claims suddenly show up with demands. It happens in real life as well, and a quick google search will show examples of just how messy this can become. Without proper planning, your estate will go through probate and become a matter of public record. 

If you die with a Will, during the probate process a court will oversee your executor and the transfer of assets from your estate to your named beneficiaries. If you die without a Will, the court will appoint an administrator of your estate who will have to divide assets in accordance with state law rather than your wishes. Either way, this can be a messy and very public process. In contrast, if you place your assets in a revocable trust, you can avoid probate and the public scrutiny that comes along with it.

Consider setting up a revocable trust to protect your privacy at death and assemble assets under the control of your chosen trustee. A revocable trust is a substitute for a Will because it contains instructions for how assets are to be divided and administered at death. In addition, the trust is an active entity during your lifetime and allows for your selected trustee to step in and carry out your wishes in the event of your temporary or permanent incapacity. You can modify a revocable trust during your lifetime, and you can serve as the trustee of your revocable trust. Upon passing, there is no need to retitle assets through the probate process because they are already owned by your trust, which provides for their disposition upon your passing.  

A good estate plan that sets forth clear intentions and appoints trusted fiduciaries will reduce the chances that your beneficiaries and estate become involved in disputes or lawsuits following your death. Likewise, it ensures the orderly execution of your wishes with reduced disruption, expense and stress on your loved ones.

Administering an estate is an enormous job and responsibility when a plan is in place. But without a proper plan, administering an estate can be an overwhelming burden, particularly for those going through the grieving process. If you think your estate plan could use some work, now is a great time to get started.

Your family office can help you determine what your estate and emergency plans should include and how to best ensure that your loved ones and business partners know what to do and where to go when the unexpected strikes.