Is it time to draft your estate plan?

At Wakefield Law, we understand estate planning is sometimes an overwhelming and scary concept.  Tough subjects like mortality, guardianship for children, and who will inherit the assets (financial and sentimental) that you have accumulated over the course of your life make it easy to put the entire topic on the back burner.  We have tried to hone the process to make drafting your estate plan as accessible and palatable as possible. We do that by having a piece-by-piece process and a flat-fee model to make sure estate planning does not get too overwhelming and there is no surprise billing or exorbitant cost. Here are a couple concepts that come up a lot when we are working with clients that just make it easier to take steps forward, instead of being frozen in place.

I Try to Steer Clear of Scare Tactics

If you have been following the Wakefield Law blog for any amount of time, you probably have noticed this about me. As an estate planning attorney, I want you to have all the facts. I want you to know what a comprehensive estate plan can do for you, and I want you to understand what could happen if you don’t have one in place. However, I steer clear of using fear as a strategy to find clients. I want clients coming to me from a place of empowerment -- making a decision to plan for their family when they are ready. But, we’re in a whole new world. At this moment, it’s not fear mongering to say things can change in an instant. It’s not overly dramatic to say we just don’t know what lies ahead over the next few weeks and months. 

If You Get Sick, You Shouldn’t Have to Worry about Making Plans 

I’m still not saying it’s time to panic. I’m just saying maybe it’s time to plan. Creating a plan is like weaving a safety net. You don’t want to be doing it when your hands are shaking and something truly scary is looming. You want to weave that safety net now, in moments of relative calm, so if the worst comes, you can focus on getting well, not worrying about “what if.”

If (and I desperately hope this doesn’t happen) you get sick, the last thing in the world that you should be worried about is who will care for your children, who will pay your mortgage, how medical decisions will be made. Still to this day, 80% of Americans don’t have any kind of advance planning in place. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy or elaborate, but it does have to directly address your family’s needs and it has to work. 

Think About What You Would Write in a Hurried Email to a Trusted Family Member

Right now is an uncertain time, but that doesn’t mean we need to be scared. It does, however, require us to think, to plan, to imagine the future. 

Imagine what you would write in a hurried email to a loved one if you weren’t sure what tomorrow would bring. Would you ask them to come pick up your kids? Would you give the usernames and passwords to your financial accounts? Would you want to share some profound wisdom about life, or love, or what kind of people you hope your children become? Think about what you would include. Maybe even jot it down. There. You have your first draft. Really, creating a plan can be this straightforward.  

Whether or not you use this basic outline, reach out to me. We can virtually connect and talk about what it would take to put your plan in place. Let’s weave your safety net together. Give my office a call to get started, (703) 771-9740.