You might not look forward to thinking about what will happen to your wealth and assets after you die in Greenwich, but it is a necessary task. You do not want the state to control who receives them. Though you may expect to live well into old age, there is no promise of tomorrow. Your health can change at a moment’s notice and with it, your ability to manage it.
Do not wait until you are sick or on your deathbed to plan for your estate. You want to be of sound mind and body to ensure you do not make mistakes that fail to protect your assets and render your plans useless. Here are some questions for you to consider about estate planning.
Do you have end-of-life plans?
Many people believe estate plans only offer protection in death, but estate plans can also provide protection at the end of their lives. You must consider the possibility that you might fall ill and require special care. To avoid burdening your loved ones with medical and financial decisions regarding your well-being, you can include provisions and instructions for them with an advance directive, financial and durable power of attorney and other essential estate planning documents.
Do your loved ones know where to look?
Your estate plans cannot be enforced if no one knows where to find them when you die. You should be updating your estate plans periodically and disposing of previous versions to prevent disputes and complications. You should also keep a copy of your estate plans in a safe deposit box or somewhere your relatives know to look, along with duplicates of your bank and investment account numbers and login information, life insurance documents, tax returns and your digital assets, i.e., social media and email access information.
It is easy to put off estate planning for another day. The longer you wait to take care of it, the more you risk your estate and assets. Take time now to protect your estate so you have one less thing on your list of goals.