New Year’s Resolution: Update Your Estate Plan
January 12, 2021 – Barry D. Siegel, Esq.
Many people optimistically make a list of New Year’s Resolutions on December 31 with promises to get healthy, learn a new language or stick to a budget. In the flurry of ending one year and starting a new year, most of those resolutions are quickly forgotten and broken during the 1st week of January. It’s not too late to make an important New Year’s Resolution: one that you can actually keep!
In 2021, resolve to update your Estate Plan.
And if you don’t have a Will or an Estate Plan – resolve to make one!
Make an appointment with an experienced Estate Planning Attorney to sit down and review your situation – your assets, loved ones and dependents you need to protect, changes to your family situation, health concerns, your business situation – so that they can create a customized solution to that fits your needs and your goals.
How Often Should You Update Your Estate Plan?
If it’s been more than 5 years since you last reviewed your Will or Trusts, or if you’ve had significant changes to your family such as a birth or death or a divorce or marriage, you need to review and update your beneficiaries. Individual and corporate taxes have changed, the SECURE Act became law in 2020 and many tax exemptions have changed in the past few years.
Do You Have A Medical Directive?
If there’s one thing 2020 has taught us, it’s to expect the unexpected. An Advanced Healthcare Directive is a legal document that expresses an adult’s healthcare wishes when they are no longer able to make healthcare decisions for themself. Advance Directives help to ensure that you receive the medical care you desire and that decisions are made by those you trust.
What Happens If Your Adult Child Becomes Ill?
If you have an adult child aged 18 or older, what will happen if they become ill or incapacitated and cannot make their own medical and financial decisions? Who is authorized to make decisions on their behalf? Your Estate Planning Attorney can meet with you and your adult children to execute the legal documents to protect your children if they become unexpectedly ill. n
Make 2021 The Year You Update Your Estate Plan
Are you ready to take steps to protect your loved ones’ future? Estate Planning resolutions should be #1 on your list to protect your loved ones and to provide you with peace of mind. Thoughtful planning will make your eventual death less difficult and stressful for your family and will help settle your estate quickly and in a cost-effective manner. Careful planning can also protect your estate from taxes, lawsuits and divorce.
Trusted and Compassionate Estate Planning
Provide your family with peace of mind and protection by updating or creating an Estate Plan that protects them after you are gone, or if you become seriously ill. With over 20 years of Estate Planning experience, South Florida Attorney Barry D. Siegel at The Siegel Law Group, P.A. knows firsthand what can happen if you are unprepared for life’s greatest challenges. A knowledgeable Estate Planning Lawyer can help ensure that you make well-informed decisions about your wishes.
Call us toll-free at 855-FLA-ESTATE or at (561) 955-8515(561) 955-8515 or schedule a free consultation.