How To Talk To Key Members Of Your Estate Plan

A key component of estate planning involves naming individuals to stand in for you in the case of a medical emergency or death. We’ve written extensively on how to choose a legal guardian for minor children and what to look for in a personal representative, but how do you ask your ideal candidates if they’re willing to take on a role in your plan? Read on to find out.

How to start the conversation

The first step is to start the conversation. It can be difficult to ask someone to take on a task as daunting as serving as your children’s legal guardian in the event something happens to you. It’s not necessarily any easier asking them to fill a smaller, short-term role, such as serving as your personal representative when you die. So how do you start these difficult conversations? To begin, try to broach the subject during a normal conversation in a calm atmosphere. You could bring it up with a phrase as simple as: “We met with a lawyer the other day to talk about estate planning.” Or, “I’ve been trying to get my estate plan in order.”

How to ask the question

Once you have the conversation started, you need to ask the actual question. First, let your chosen individual know what role you’re asking them to fill. For example, “We’d like to ask you to be our children’s legal guardian in the event something happens to us.” Or, “I’d like to ask you to serve as the personal representative of my estate.” Let your candidate know why you think they’d be a good fit for the job. Give them time to ask questions of their own. Then, move on to the next step.

Talk about the responsibilities

Your ideal candidate needs to be aware of the responsibilities they’d be accepting when taking on a role in your estate plan. Different roles require the completion of different tasks. For example, your durable power of attorney would make financial decisions on your behalf in the event you become incapacitated while your medical power of attorney would be responsible for making your medical decisions. Each individual you’re naming needs to know exactly what they’d be handling when the time comes so they can decide if they’re up to the challenge.

Accept their response, whatever it may be

Ideally, your candidate says yes to accepting the responsibility you’ve asked of them. They may not, however. Be prepared for a no and be willing to accept their response. You have nothing to lose by asking them to fill a role and everything to gain. This is because asking your candidate if they’re willing to accept a role in your estate plan enables you to come up with a back up plan in the event they say no. That way, no one is surprised. You can rest assured the person chosen for the job is up to the challenge, so when the time comes, your documents and selected individuals do their jobs as planned.

How can Boyum Law Firm help you?

Boyum Law Firm can help you with your estate planning, Medicaid planning, and probate law needs. To contact Boyum Law, click here.

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5 Reasons To Update Your Estate Plan

Estate planning, like grocery shopping or doing a load of laundry, is a task that’s never completely checked off your to-do list. In fact, routinely updating your estate planning documents ensures your plan best protects you and your loved ones. Your estate plan doesn’t need weekly updates, but a few big life changes create a need for an updated plan. Read on to discover five reasons to update your documents.

1. You’ve married or divorced

Changes in marital status are one reason you should update your estate plan. Odds are you’d like to include your new spouse in your estate plan if you’ve gotten married. On a similar note, you probably don’t want to keep an ex-spouse listed as a beneficiary on any accounts or as your power of attorney. In both cases, updating your documents is the key to avoiding an estate planning disaster.

2. Your family has grown

Welcoming a new addition to the family is an exciting time. You always want to be around for your children, but do you have a plan in place in case the unexpected happens? Updating your last will and testament and naming a legal guardian ensures your children will always be well taken care of, even if you’re not around. For tips on how to choose a legal guardian, check out our blog post here.

3. Your personal representative or powers of attorney have died

From powers of attorney to a legal guardian for minor children to your personal representative, a large part of estate planning involves naming trusted individuals in your documents. These trusted individuals are responsible for completing a specific task in the event you’re incapacitated or die. If the person you’ve chosen for one of these tasks has died or is no longer willing to fill the role when needed, it’s time to pick a new person.

4. Your financial situation has changed

Maybe you’ve opened a new retirement account and need to add a beneficiary. Or your assets have grown through the years and you’re now interested in creating a trust. Regardless of the reasoning, changes in your financial situation or a great reason to update your estate plan.

5. It’s been three to five years since you’ve last updated your estate plan

Even if you don’t have a specific reason or desire to update your estate plan, it’s best to go through your documents every three to five years. That way, you can ensure your plan is up-to-date and can catch any minor changes or complications. It never hurts to double check things, after all, especially if that thing is as important as your estate planning documents.

How can Boyum Law Firm help you?

Boyum Law Firm can help you with your estate planning, Medicaid planning, and probate law needs. To contact Boyum Law, click here.

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