A painful estate plan is one that makes others cringe and shriek. Very likely, you know what I mean.
If you do not, here are a few examples to get us going:
- The plan you made dates back to the 70’s,
- You re-married and failed to update your old plan,
- At the age of 80, you just now decided it was a good time to create a plan,
- Both executors of your Will are dead and you know it,
- The last time you reviewed your plan was the day you signed it, or
- You have twice as many grandchildren and half as many daughter/son-in-laws.
Reduce your Painful Estate Plan
Yes, you can reduce your painful estate plan by acknowledging it has flaws and making a change.
To be clear, I believe in reducing stress and anxiety for your loved ones and today is the day I want to make this point clear by associating pain with your outdated plan.
Yes, a painful estate plan is a bad habit you can change.
Timing of a painful estate plan is never good
Ideally, all of us would get a two-year window alarm before our time is up. Unfortunately, very few of us get this luxury and those that do are generally unable to make decisions on their own behalf.
In my opinion, one of the best times of the year to begin the process of creating an estate plan is the same week a person begins their taxes. If this doesn’t work, then anytime between May and December works too.
The most painful estate plan is…
Yes, the most painful estate plan is the plan that was never formalized or does not exist. Quite frankly, I think this goes without saying. Unfortunately, it is not very difficult to find examples where people failed.
Thus, please bring this topic up with those that you love and remind them to update their estate plan.
