If you are going through or have just completed your divorce, you are transitioning to a new life, responsibilities and commitments. You need to find time to review your current estate plan or if you don’t have one, you need to get one today. Without an estate plan in place, your assets will likely be left to your children and if they are minors, their guardian (likely your ex-spouse) will have control.
If you don’t have an estate plan in place, don’t procrastinate any longer – now is the time to get it done! If you already have an estate plan in place (wills, trusts, health care proxies, living wills, durable powers of attorney), the new year is a great time to review whether you need to update your documents.
In my last blog article, I suggested that estate planning be added to your list of New Year’s resolutions. While it’s likely too late for any serious estate planning in 2017, it’s not too late to take some immediate steps to reduce the size of your estate through annual gifting.
We are right in the middle of the holiday season, planning for parties, shopping for gifts and maybe even taking some time to reflect. Now is the perfect time to add to your list of New Year’s resolutions: Meet with an attorney for an estate plan. You don’t need to meet today or even this month. Set up your appointment for January or February
Our blog article posted on October 11, 2017 addressed the reasons to have a Durable Power of Attorney (DPA). With a DPA you can authorize someone else to act on your behalf, so he or she can do things like pay everyday expenses, collect benefits, watch over your investments and file taxes.
