I admit I am pretty young and had these exact same thoughts when I was just getting out of college. I wasn’t married and had no kids. What did I have to worry about? Estate planning is for folks that actually have something, right?
If you are 18 years or older and can make your own decisions, you need to sit down and at least put in place a simple plan of what your future is going to look like. Without a plan, you are leaving a whole lot of things to chance and could be setting up yourself, your family, and your love ones for expensive legal battles to come.
For example, what if you were involved in an accident, became incapacitated, and couldn’t make decisions for yourself. What life and death decisions will be made without your input? Who will make those life-altering decisions for you? Without your forethought in a pre-established plan, you could end up having someone or some judge make decisions for you that you may not want, such as being hooked up to life supports that hang out of you as a living vegetable. You also could be putting your family members in a difficult situation by having to make decisions or not being able to make decisions without your guidance and forethought.
If you have children, what’s going to happen if you don’t come home? Who will care for them? What values and lessons do you want to leave your children? How is anyone going to know what you wanted to teach them and share with them if you don’t take the time to figure this out? Without some thought, your children could end up being raised by someone you don’t want raising them. Without a plan, your children may be cheated out of the upbringing you wanted to give to them. You also could be creating a major legal battle between family members or others over custody and care of your children in the event you are incapacitated or die.
Personal estate planning is more than just saying who gets what after you die. It’s all about making decisions about your values, how you would like to live, and leaving a legacy to your family and love ones. At a minimum, you need to at least have a will prepared along with an Advance Health Care Directive. If you have children, you need to have documents prepared nominating both short-term and long-term guardians.
