by Greg Lipinski
Most people, including myself, immediately think of an elderly relative that has recently passed when the words “estate planning” come up. I imagine a group of family in a lawyer’s office waiting to see who inherits what assets (or liabilities) acquired by the family member over the years.
The fact is that you can become incapacitated, no matter your age. It is a dismal thought, but it’s a necessary one. Anything from an illness to sudden, accidental death can occur. And although you haven’t had 80 or 90 years to accumulate a cache of assets, you have to be ready to bequeath what little assets you might have to the people you want it to go to.
Ultimately, the thing to know is that the situation is never as simple as it might seem. Don’t take chances. You might become sick and cannot follow through on financial obligations. Who steps in on your behalf? What steps do this person take? These are important questions that should be answered and explicitly stated in a will. Situations could get even more complicated. For instance, there was a case where a father of a young family passed away unexpectedly, and the last will that he had written during a previous marriage. Needless to say, his current family didn’t benefit much at all from this complication.
The game plan from this is to make a simple will. All of your assets need to go somewhere if you are incapacitated or worse, so make it very clear and certain where they go or else state laws will handle that for you (which isn’t always according to your wishes). Sources state that at a young age with a minimal amount of net worth, you could easily get by with using a computer software program that can spell out the very basics. However, once you reach a net worth of $2 million, you should consult a lawyer. Either way, get help where you need it and come up with, at a minimum, a very basic plan for your assets if the worst were to happen.
Sources:
http://www.kiplinger.com/columns/starting/archive/2006/st0921.htm
http://wills.about.com/b/2008/09/10/estate-planning-tips-for-young-singles-and-couples.htm
http://ezinearticles.com/?Children,-Guardianships-and-Wills-Estate-Planning-For-Young-Families&id=400858
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