What Could Happen If You Do Not Have An Estate Plan?
Your loved ones will have to go to court.
With no plan in place (even just having a will, more on this below), your loved ones will have to go to probate court. Probate court is the legal process to settle someone’s estate when they pass away. It could be a long, slow, costly, and public process. For these reasons, many families choose to have a plan in place so that their loved ones avoid this lengthy process.
Depending on the complexity of your estate, probate court can take months, sometimes even years to complete. It can be expensive and simply burdensome.
A major misconception in our community is “If I have a will, I’m all set”. Unfortunately, this is not entirely true because all wills must go through probate court before anything can be distributed to any beneficiaries. The only way to truly avoid probate court is through a proper trust. A living trust will allow you to lay out clear instructions on how you would like to distribute your estate. It allows for certain protections for you and your loved ones. A major advantage with a trust is that it keeps your estate private and out of probate court.
You may not have control over your Medical or Financial Decisions in the event of your incapacity.
Most people think estate planning is only for when someone passes away, but this is only a piece of the puzzle. Estate planning also covers incapacity planning. If you do not have a plan in place and become unable to make medical, legal or financial decisions for yourself, your family cannot jump in to help. They will first need to petition the court for guardianship or conservatorship to gain this authority and manage your affairs.
With proper legal documents such as Powers of Attorney, you can decide who you would want to have authority to step in and help you make these decisions, should you not be able to do so yourself because of any incapacity from things such as illness or an accident.
It is often when you fully understand how estate planning works that you realize how much it protects you and those your love.
For these reasons alone, you should not put off setting up your estate plan. At the Barkho Law firm we will help guide you step-by-step in putting a proper plan in place to give you and your loved ones peace of mind.
We will be sure to educate you on the ins-and-outs of estate planning and recommend a plan that will protect you and the ones you love!
Give our office a call for a FREE consultation today!
Call us at (248) 744-6585 to schedule your free consultation.