The only certainty in life is death.

Chapter 1: What is an estate plan?

An estate plan directs what happens to your stuff and who is in charge if you are disabled or when you die. Planning for your death or disability is difficult; however, your family will appreciate your effort, eventually. Ultimately, estate plans ensure – to the largest degree possible - that your house is in order and that your loved ones will celebrate over your life instead of arguing about your stuff.

An estate plan puts your wishes into writing and ensures stability when illness or tragedy strikes. Your estate—however large or small—is important and worth planning. Consider everything you own — your home, car, bank accounts, furniture, jewelry, etc. Your estate encompasses all of your personal property, your collections, investments, and potentially insurance and even pets!

The first purpose of your estate plan is to establish to whom you wish your assets and property to pass to upon either death or incapacity. If you are a young married couple with children living in Kentucky, a Will is important to ensure that all property goes to the surviving spouse instead of equally divided between the spouse and children. Otherwise, your stuff will be divided between your spouse and children through a Probate Court Guardianship. These are difficult and costly situations that you can easily avoid by clearly delineating who gets what, when, and how.

The second purpose of your estate plan will be useful if you become unable to make decisions due to a disability or incapacity. The process requires you to identify the person to make decisions if you cannot make them for yourself, which entails setting up a power of attorney for finances and healthcare surrogate for healthcare decisions (including a living will that describes your intent for your end of life care and treatment). In addition, identifying an Executor for your Last Will and Testament, trustee for your trusts (trusts are used often to avoid probate court or protect certain assets), and guardian for your children are important considerations when you are completing an estate plan.

Dying without a will in place is known as dying intestate, and the Decedent’s assets are subject to local laws depending on your jurisdiction. Most likely, you will want to have a Last Will and Testament to avoid the government deciding who gets your property. We will discuss the specifics of the Probate System in a later blog.

You may have heard of a Will, but you may be asking, “what else goes into an estate plan?” It is important to note that no estate plan will look exactly the same, but the main components are (1) Last Will and Testament (a.k.a. the Will that you are likely already familiar with), (2) Healthcare Directive or Healthcare Surrogate, (3) Living Will Declarations, and (4) Power of Attorney. If you have minor children or want to avoid probate court in the future, a testamentary or revocable trust may also need to be created. We often establish trusts for the protection of children, to avoid probate court, or as a tax planning strategy. We serve many business owners with business succession planning and strategies to responsibly pass wealth to future generations and charities.  

The Last Will and Testament is a detailed instruction as to the distribution of property and assets. Your Healthcare Directives (otherwise known as a Medical Power of Attorney) are used if you are unable to make important medical decisions for yourself. A Living Will Declaration sets forth what care you would like in certain “end of life” circumstances. A Power of Attorney assigns an individual to control your assets and finances if you are still living but unable to make decisions for yourself.

In summation, an estate plan is a proactive process to protect your family and business. We make the estate planning process convenient, provide clarity, and ensure a complete strategy. We provide peace of mind that your family will continue to prosper.