Category: Estate Planning

Apparently, people like being scared as long as it is in small doses in a controlled situation.  Daniel Kelly, a professor at Purdue University, talks about the appeal of Halloween as a time when we can give ourselves a good scare without the risk of really being in danger. Whether you’re watching scary movies or walking through a temporary Haunted House, there’s always a barrier between you and the threat – you can turn the video off or you can walk out of the House and leave all the ghouls behind.  The barrier is what makes the scare controlled.

I bring this up because it’s been my experience that people are scared of doing estate planning.  Some people will tell you they haven’t done it because they don’t have the time or money yet, but personally I think it almost always comes down to fear.  Fear of what they will have to face about themselves, their life, and their family when creating an estate plan.

Many people are, of course, scared of mortality.  For some, that thought alone is scary enough.  Some are superstitious and fear that merely the act of talking about death will start them down a slippery slope to a morbid end that wouldn’t have happened if they hadn’t mentioned <in a whisper> death.  Yeah, right.

But what I have seen the most is not fear of death itself.  Rather, its the fear of confronting the state of one’s own life.  The process of planning requires that we review not only the things we own and the money we have, but that we review our family members, and the friends in our life.  For some people, this brings  them face to face with realities they may be trying to rise above.  For some, it’s painful memories.  For others, it’s a lonely life, or a chaotic family, or relationships they wish were different.  When you add in the need to plan care and support for a family member with special needs or a disability, people often don’t feel that the scary part of the process can be controlled enough to avoid the danger of becoming completely overwhelmed and depressed over the state of their life and their ability to care for their vulnerable family member.

The barrier Professor Kelly talks about – the ability to turn off or walk away from the scary experience –  may not feel like it exists with estate planning, and so people avoid going through the process.  But there is a barrier of sorts, a safekeeper.  It comes in the form of your attorney, sort of your super hero guide, if you will.  Your attorney can guide you through finding a way to handle everything you need to plan for even when you have a less than ideal pool of people to work with.  Attorneys are professional problem solvers and they’ve probably worked with clients who have similar situations to yours.  Their job as advisor to you means that when you have no idea how to do what needs to be done, they can guide you.  They can keep you on track and focused on the planning work at hand, keeping you from falling into the scary world of regrets and what ifs.

Halloween is upon us, and the best scary/not scary experience you can have for the sake of your family is to face the monster, face your mortality, and put your plan in place.

If you’d like to get started, give us a call and set up a consultation.  Parker Counsel special needs law firm is available by phone: 833-RED-BOOT (833-733-2668) email: legal@parkercounsel.com or schedule a short informational phone call at Calendly. 

While happily scrolling my facebook feed today, checking out what my friends’ kids wore to the first day of school, and who is outraged about what today, I was suddenly stopped in my tracks by this headline:  “Last hospitalized Pulse shooting survivor discharged after nearly three months.”

Pulse?  That was the horrifying mass shooting in Orlando that happened, when, a long time ago, right?  Long enough ago that I’ve had time to be horrified, outraged, sickened, sad, and then . . . going on with my life.  So the news that one of the victims is only now getting out of the hospital, that one of the victims has been under hospital care for nearly the whole of summer, stopped me in my tracks.

Because it’s easy to forget that tragic, massive events don’t end once the story has been thoroughly reported.  They don’t unfold like in the movies, where victims or car accidents, or fatal diseases, or even mass shootings, either die or survive.  In the movies, victims who die are buried and eulogized, victims who survive get up and leave.

In real life, injuries bring your life into a different dimension.  Three months in the hospital can decimate whatever order you had in your life, and if, as is likely, the recovery will continue after release for months or years longer, your life will and must be different.

Which is why planning for the possibility of disruption in your life is so very important.  Legal, financial, and personal contingency plans make the difference between hardship and disaster.  They make the difference between stress about the injury, and stress about every single thing in your life. They make the difference between having the people you know love and care about you around helping, and not having them there.

Writing a will is important, but it’s only one small part of what you will do with an estate planning attorney.  You will also get help putting a plan in place that gets as close as possible in the event of a traumatic injury,  to keeping you focused on your injury and recovery, not on everything else.

When you plan with Pam, things go more smoothly.

Do the words “wills”, “trusts,” “estates,” and “health care directives” make you think of tools that help protect your family and your wishes if death or incapacity strikes?  Or do you ignore those words, thinking they don’t apply to little old regular you?

October 19th-25th, 2015 marks National Estate Planning Awareness Week.  This week is to spread the word that estate planning is for everyone.  A young parent just starting out, a hard working middle ager realizing you are not immortal after all, a wealthy entrepreneur or a senior citizen looking at finite resources, estate planning provides a solid legal foundation for protecting your family, your financial security, your wishes and your independence through all of life’s transitions.

Prepare and Protect Your Family:  If you have minor children, estate planning allows you to appoint the people you want to raise them in the event of your unexpected death or incapacity.  Trusts allow you to protect minor children, or even adult children, who may not be prepared to receive a large sum of money after you die.  Health care directives and powers of attorney make it easier for your family to manage  medical and financial affairs during a health care crisis or unexpected incapacity.  And of course, estate planning keeps your loved ones from unnecessary court and legal fees, and the worst of family feuds during the emotional time of loss.

Distribute and Maximize Finances:   For both large estates and modest ones, estate planning ensures that more of your money goes to your family after your passing. Proper estate planning can also help senior citizens and baby boomers qualify for Medicaid and additional VA Pension Benefits for health care without becoming impoverished or “spending down” everything they own. Some professionals such as physicians and contractors also look to estate planning to shield their personal assets from lawsuits, creditors and other risks associated with their occupations. And families with children who have special needs can provide money for their care without jeopardizing access to government benefits.

Define Your Legacy:  Do you have assets you wish to leave to certain people? Are you in a non-traditional relationship or blended family and want to ensure your loved ones are taken care of and share in your inheritance after you are gone? Is there someone you trust to make important medical or financial decisions on your behalf if you are unable to do so?   Without an estate plan in place, all of these personal decisions will be made by the courts if the unthinkable happens. This is why estate planning is such an important strategy in making sure your wishes are known and honored if tragedy strikes.

Your Peace of Mind:  With a well thought out estate plan in place, you have less to fear about the future – both for your own well being and that of your family members. Tools such as living trusts, powers of attorneys, insurance policies and health care directives can help you fund your future care needs and carefully design the life and independence you wish to enjoy during your later years.

Awareness is not enough—Take ACTION!

National Estate Planning Awareness Week is a great way to help more people become aware of estate planning and its role in  protecting your financial future and the people you love—the information is useless if you don’t take action!

Attorneys spend their days thinking of the worst that can happen, but its true that none of us ever know when our time will be up. Estate planning should  be taken care of early and often.  Make a plan and keep it up to date so that if an unexpected illness or accident happens, you won’t have lost out on the planning options once available to you.

Call for an appointment to discuss your own personal needs now.