This past weekend was dedicated to a Celebration of Life for a Matriarch. Friends and family were able to come together, pay their respects, tell stories, laugh, cry, grieve, and comfort each other. It was a beautiful moment, a tribute to the Lady, to the family she helped create, and to the impact she had on so many.
What struck me was how calm and kind and well orchestrated everything was. Now, I was on the inside track for some of the preparations, so I know it wasn’t all a simple glide path (no event is), but there were very few and no critical, last-minute hassles. And since the fundamental and foundational elements had been handled prior, there was time and space to handle the minor items that popped up in the moment.
How did this all happen? On purpose, of course. To leverage the old quip: plans don’t matter but planning does. The family had done the work, had the necessary conversations, and systematically mapped out the estate plan and division of assets well enough so that no one was overwhelmed by the process.
The WSJ recently had an article The Five Documents You Need to Have in Your Estate Plan which is a great place to start when looking at our inheritance planning, noting “You don’t need to own a mansion, have an extensive stock portfolio or even earn six figures to benefit from an estate plan.” So the recommended documents include:
- Will - A last will and testament is a document that indicates who will receive assets after someone dies and names an executor, or personal representative, to administer the estate.
- Durable POA - A durable power of attorney names a trusted person to make financial decisions on your behalf. The word “durable” means that the document will remain valid even if you become incapacitated.
- Healthcare POA - A healthcare power of attorney allows you to appoint a person to make medical decisions on your behalf if you are unable to communicate your decisions yourself.
- Living Will - Also called an advance directive, a living will sets forth your wishes regarding life-sustaining treatments, such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation or tube feeding, if you are unable to make decisions on your own.
- HIPAA Authorization - The HIPAA Privacy Rule, which became effective in 2003, limits how healthcare professionals can share information. A HIPAA Authorization is a document that authorizes a doctor or other healthcare worker to discuss your medical status with the individuals you designate.
And to leverage another quip: failing to plan is planning to fail. There are 12M families with estates in the $1M-$5M range. Couple that with the fact that 50% of homeowners in America do not have a will. $1M is worth protecting!
Ensuring that our families and our legacies are protected matters. Facing our fears and ensuring that the tax man and probate courts don’t take our family wealth matters. We can give the Next Generation a better life than was given to us. We can help ourselves. We can move our families forward…