Ten Illegitimate Reasons to Skip Out on Having an Estate Plan.
If you don’t really like your family, you enjoy paying legal fees, and you want the state and strangers making decisions for you, then an estate plan really isn’t for you. Check out these top ten reasons why you definitely shouldn’t get an estate plan.
(Disclaimer: I am an attorney, and I believe that every person over the age of 18 should have an estate plan to protect themselves and their loved ones. However, nothing in this article creates an attorney-client relationship nor constitutes legal advice. This post is merely entertaining and informational.)
Top Ten Reasons You Don’t Need to Get an Estate Plan
1. You like the idea of the state choosing who will take care of your children.
Did you know that one of the essential functions of having an estate plan is appointing a guardian for your minor children?
Without a guardian appointment, you leave your children in the care of the state such that family members and friends are required to intervene on your children’s behalf.
Having an estate plan means making sure that your children already have someone waiting in the wings to take care of them in the event of the worst case scenario.
2. You like the idea of your family fighting over your stuff.
Did you know that you can make gifts of specific items, specific property, or even contingencies in your estate plan? Want your niece to get your favorite painting or your granddaughter to receive your engagement ring? Get an estate plan.
Without an estate plan, your family or intestate heirs (defined by the state) receive certain portions of the estate without regard to whether they have significant sentimental value.
If you want your family to be left arguing over your tools and collections, by all means, skip the estate plan. But, if you want to be able to make those decisions yourself, talk to an attorney about your estate plan.
3. You would rather stangers decide your end-of-life treatment than you or your family.
An important piece of every well-rounded estate plan is a power of attorney over your health care and a living will or advance directive.
RELATED POST: Will vs. Living Will: What’s the Difference?
These two documents work together to appoint a person to make your medical decisions in the event you are unable to do so. The person you appoint has the right to hire and fire medical staff, decline certain medical services, or even protect your personal religious beliefs.
The living will also makes your treatment in your final stage of life very clear. You can make elections about what kind of care you do or do not receive and therefore preserve your own dignity rather than leaving it up to a stranger who may not consider your personal beliefs or preferences.
4. Estate planning is too expensive.
A really great reason not to have an estate plan is to tell yourself that you can’t afford it. However, you might be surprised to find out that your hometown lawyer charges a fairly reasonable fee for creating a personally tailored estate plan.
In fact, you might even find that he or she is willing to work with you on payments and less expensive alternatives that meet your needs.
Regardless, I have yet to find a family who saved money by not doing an estate plan. Probate –the court-administered distribution of your assets – nearly always costs more than an estate plan.
Ultimately, getting an estate plan is probably much cheaper than the alternative.
5. You really love paying enormous amounts of legal fees.
The alternative to having an estate plan is being intestate and stuck in probate. Now…to be fair…probate is not a bad word.
However, probate is expensive, drawn out, and inflexible. It almost always requires the assistance of an attorney, at least 4 months of preparing documents, and hundreds in filing and publication fees.
RELATED POST: Why You Want to Avoid Probate
This means that probate is a great money-maker for attorneys. Attorneys (including me) can form their entire business around people who didn’t get an estate plan.
So, if you really prefer to fund your attorney’s vacation condo or retirement over getting an estate plan, then skip out on making an estate plan!
6. You believe that your business is your business and no one else’s.
If you believe that your affairs, assets, and family dynamics are no one else’s business, then don’t get an estate plan.
Estate plans appoint important professionals or trusted individuals to care for you, your assets, and your health in the event you are unable to do so.
Estate plans also appoint responsible and trusted individuals to collect and distribute your assets after death.
However, you should know that you need to warn these people in advance if you want them to take these roles on. Therefore, you must have hard conversations with other people about your health and finances.
RELATED POST: Crucial Step in Your Estate Plan: Discussing your wishes
Therefore, if you don’t want to control who makes your personal and financial decisions, and you want to leave it up to chance because you don’t want to talk about it, then an estate plan is not for you.
7. You like it when the government tells you what to do with your money.
If you do not have an estate plan, the state makes one for you. Every state has intestacy laws (laws that apply to estates if you don’t have a will) that determine who receives your assets if you don’t have an estate plan.
The state may give your house to your children instead of your wife. Or, the state may appoint your brother instead of your close trusted friend to take care of your children.
Some state laws leave spouses without the marital home, leave children without any support, and may disqualify special needs beneficiaries from their state or federal benefits.
RELATED POST: Supplemental Needs Trusts and Protecting Special Needs Children
Without an estate plan, the government makes your estate plan for you. The government decides who receives your assets and exactly how much.
If you like the government making your major life decisions, then you should skip out on having an estate plan.
8. You believe you will live forever.
If you are immortal or invincible, then you don’t really need an estate plan.
However, statistically speaking, everyone dies.
Sure, talking about your own mortality, your own fate, and life without you is difficult. But, having preparing for the inevitable is a huge help to your friends and family.
Plus, there is no scientific basis that creating an estate plan increases the likelihood of death. The mortality rate among people who have estate plans is the same as among people who don’t have estate plans.
So, I am going to take a great leap and guess that you are not immortal. Therefore, you need an estate plan.
9. You don’t want someone to take care of you or your stuff if you get sick.
Did you know that an important part of having an estate plan is naming an attorney-in-fact to make decisions for you in incapacity?
RELATED POST: Types of Powers of Attorney
A power of attorney is a document that appoints someone to make your health and financial decisions in the event you are unable to do so. If you are in an accident, in a coma, or in surgery, someone can pay your bills.
If you suffer from neurological deterioration, Alzheimer’s, or dementia, someone can hire and fire medical staff or pick up your prescriptions for you.
Without a power of attorney, you may need a guardianship. In a guardianship, the court decides who makes your decisions and how after the court evaluates how mentally competent you are.
No one wants to bring you to court to prove that you can’t make your own decisions. The better plan is to get a durable power of attorney so that your most trusted friends or family can provide for your medical and financial needs.
10. Your friend/mother/grandparents/neighbor/brother didn’t have a will, and they were fine.
If your friend/mother/grandparents/neighbor/brother jumped off a bridge, would you?
I know you have heard that one a time or two before, but if the only reason you don’t want to get an estate plan is because you know someone else who didn’t have an estate plan, then you can’t be convinced.
One of the quickest ways to run up probate expenses and attorney fees is to leave your children, family, or friends guessing as to what your wishes were.
Even if you do not own a lot of property or have a lot of money, an estate plan still provides for the orderly administration of your affairs.
Related Post: It’s not about the money.
Having an estate plan is about protecting your dignity, honoring your wishes, and protecting your family. Not everyone has an estate plan, and for some, it works out. But, that leaves your family in the hands of your state’s laws. And some of those laws fit other people better than you.
YOU PROBABLY DON’T NEED AN ESTATE PLAN!
Of course, all of this is for your entertainment, and I continue to believe that all people over the age of 18 need an estate plan. This is especially true for parents, home owners, business owners, and singles.
RELATED POST: Single. No Estate Plan.: Why That’s a Problem
However, if you really trust the government to honor your wishes, if you really like paying attorneys, or you really believe you will live forever, then you can easily skip getting an estate plan.
For everyone else, find a reputable estate planning attorney in your jurisdiction to start your estate plan.
Want some more estate planning myth busting? Check this out: