Common Mistakes of Estate Planning

Estate planning is an important part of everyone's life. Not everyone thinks that they need an estate plan, or they try to create their plan alone and miss a lot of important details. That is why having a professional estate planning attorney is essential. 

Listed below are a few common estate planning mistakes:

Not Creating an Estate Plan

If you do not have an estate plan, the state will have a plan for you. However, this is almost never the plan that you would have made for yourself. If you pass without an estate plan, the state will decide how all of your assets will be distributed.

Believing Estate Planning is Only for the Wealthy

Many people think that estate planning is only for the wealthy, which is very untrue. Anyone over the age of 18 should really have an estate plan because once you are a legal adult, your family can no longer make medical or financial decisions for you.

Is the Title Put Together Correctly?

There is a lot that goes into this aspect of estate planning. Do you want your assets to be joint to avoid the probate process? What about the transfer of debts? Outright distributions during your lifetime?

Not Sharing Your Plan with Your Family

One of the common mistakes we often see people do is not telling their family where all the assets are. We suddenly have some assets, an annuity or a life insurance policy that nobody knew about. It could be very valuable, and there's no general index that will let the family find those assets.

Learn More About Estate Planning

Estate planning can be a big task to cover on your own, so in order to ensure you are covering all of the ground and making the choices you want to make, contact us at Richard A. Myers, Jr. and Associates. 

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