Whether you are new to estate planning or are updating an existing estate plan, it is important to have a comprehensive estate plan that addresses all your needs and objectives. To help ensure that your plan accomplishes every you need it to, the Beverly estate planning attorneys at DeBruyckere Law Offices point out commonly overlooked estate planning topics.
Overlooked Estate Planning Topics
Because your estate plan should be uniquely tailored to meet your needs it may not be necessary to include all the following topics in your plan; however, it is in your best interest to review the topics to make sure you haven’t overlooked something important.
- 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.
- Probate Avoidance. Deciding to whom your assets will be distributed after you are gone is important; however, you should also consider how those assets will be distributed. Without planning, your estate may be required to go through formal probate which can be a costly and time-consuming process. Not only can probate reduce the value of the assets passed down to your loved ones but it can delay the process of transferring those assets to them as well. The good news is that incorporating probate avoidance tools and strategies into your estate plan can go a long way toward helping your estate avoid probate.
- 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.
- 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.
- Special Needs Planning. If you are the parent of a child with special needs, it is crucial that you include special needs planning in your estate plan to protect the assets you want to give your child. Because your child may rely on state and/or federal assistance programs, such as Medicaid or SSI, as an adult, you must be aware of the eligibility guidelines for those programs. Direct gifts to your child could cause your child to lose eligibility. Instead, you may wish to create a Special Needs Trust that will allow you to continue to financially contribute to your child without jeopardizing eligibility.
- 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.
Contact North Andover Estate Planning Attorneys
For more information, please join us for an upcoming FREE seminar. If you have additional questions 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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