Whether you are creating your first estate plan or reviewing an existing plan it is important to make sure your plan is a comprehensive one. To get the most out of your estate plan, it should focus on more than just the distribution of assets after you are gone. To help ensure that your estate plan accomplishes everything that it can, an estate planning attorney at DeBruyckere Law Offices explains five areas people frequently overlook in their estate plans.
- Incapacity Planning. People frequently overlook the need for incapacity planning when they go the DIY estate planning route. They create and execute a Last Will and Testament and mistakenly believe that their loved ones are protected. A Will can protect loved ones in the event of your death; however, a Will does nothing to protect you or your loved ones if you become incapacitated because the terms of a Will are only relevant after your death. To protect against incapacity, your estate plan should include an incapacity planning component.
- Business Succession Planning. If you have invested time and money to start a business or to keep a family business operating, you (hopefully) understand the need to protect your investment. You probably purchased insurance to protect against losses due to natural disasters, theft, or fire. What happens to your investment if something happens to you though? To ensure that the business is successfully passed down to the next generation or sold for fair market value if you die or become incapacitated, you need a business succession planning component in your estate plan.
- Funeral and Burial Planning. You may not be particularly keen about planning your own funeral and burial; however, if you fail to make those plans your loved ones will be forced to do so after your death. Not only will they need to make important decisions just days after losing you, but they may also have to come up with the financial resources needed to pay for a funeral and burial. Not surprisingly, grieving family members are often taken advantage of when they are forced to make decisions while grieving. Equally important is the likelihood that your wishes regarding your funeral and burial may not be remembered, and therefore not honored, because your loved ones cannot think clearly. Creating a funeral and burial plan now ensures that your wishes will be honored and relieves your loved ones of the need to make financial and personal decisions right after losing you.
- Medicaid/Long-Term Care Planning. Americans have a considerably longer average life expectancy today than they did a century ago. Living longer is certainly a blessing; however, it also increases the likelihood that you will need long-term care (LTC) at some point. If you (or a spouse) do end up needing LTC, the cost of that care will be expensive with an average yearly cost of around $100,000 for 2022. Although you may depend on Medicare to cover most healthcare expenses as a senior, it will not pay for LTC. Medicaid will cover LTC costs if you qualify for benefits. To ensure that you do qualify for Medicaid without putting assets at risk you need to incorporate Medicaid planning tools and strategies into your estate plan long before you need those benefits.
- Pet Planning. Clients are routinely surprised when I ask them about their pets. Although they consider the family cat or dog to be part of the family, they typically have not included their pets in their estate plan. That may lead to uncertainty or even abandonment if something happens to the animal’s human owner. To make sure that your pet continues to be treated well if you are unable to care for the animal because of your death or incapacity, you should include a pet planning component in your estate plan.
Contact an Estate Planning Attorney
For more information, please join us for an upcoming FREE seminar. If you have additional questions or concerns about estate planning, contact our estate planning attorneys in our North Andover, Woburn, and Beverly offices at (978) 969-0331. Our Londonderry and Nashua, New Hampshire office can be reached at (603) 894-4141.
Attorney Daniel A. DeBruyckere has been practicing law in New Hampshire and Massachusetts since 1998, and has helped hundreds of clients with their estate planning and elder care issues. He is very well respected in the area of estate planning, probate, trust administration, elder law issues, and business planning.
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