Do I Need an Estate Plan?

KELLY, IN MICHIGAN, ASKS IF SHE NEEDS AN ESTATE PLAN SINCE SHE IS NOT A MILLIONAIRE?

Do regular people need an estate plan?

• Everyone’s situation is different, and their plan should be custom and unique to them.
• Depending on your specific asset, and state laws you my need an estate plan to achieve specific goals while you are alive and after you die.
• Estate planning is not exclusively done for the wealthy.
• Each person’s plan should be done by an estate planning attorney.

 What will an estate plan do for me?

• The right planning can give you control on how your assets are distributed once you die.
• Estate planning is very common for individuals with special needs children.
• People who die without estate plans can leave their children with a lot of hard work and frustration when they die.
• A will is not a suitable substitute for a trust.

Can I lose my assets due to a nursing care expense?

• You could potentially have to liquidate assets in order to pay for the nursing home expenses.
• An estate plan will not exclude you from paying for a nursing home.
• A proper estate plan should include a trust, will, health care proxy, and power of attorney.

In this edition of Summit Financials Partners, Retirement My Way question and answer, Kelley from Michigan, asks Ryan if it is necessary for her to have an estate plan since she isn’t a millionaire. Ryan explains that this is a very common question that he is asked by his clients and viewers of the show. Estate planning is not exclusively for millionaires or the super wealthy.

Everyone can benefit from an estate plan. Ryan urges all of his clients to sit down with an experienced estate planning attorney, in order to have a conversation regarding whether or not a full or partial estate plan would be beneficial to them achieving their goals. Ryan has worked closely with his longtime friend and estate planning attorney Gerry Griffin. Gerry has worked with a countless number of Ryan’s clients over the years to make sure that their plan is efficient and executed if they were to pass.

A proper estate plan should include a trust, a will, a power of attorney, and a healthcare proxy, as well as do not resuscitate instructions. It is very common for individuals with special needs children, to create an estate plan, to determine how their assets will be handled for the benefit of that child once they pass. An estate plan can make life much easier for the beneficiaries because it will be clearly lay out in documents, filed with the state, how that person intends for their assets to be distributed.  They can determine who gets what, how much they get, when they get it, and when they are excluded from getting it.

No retirement plan is complete without a thorough conversation about estate planning needs.