Do you have enough life insurance? If you’re married, does your spouse, who may not work outside of the home or who earns substantially less, have sufficient insurance to cover the expense of finding paid help to shuttle back and forth to school; to babysit, and a myriad of other things.

Information needs to be passed to your family when they need it, and eventually they will need it.

Check these on a regular basis. Remember minors are not able to inherit liquid assets; check so you’re sure you’d still name them. If you’ve been divorced, be sure your former spouse isn’t named on anything you don’t want them to have.

Inventory your Stuff

tangible personal property (books, clothes, jewelry, etc.)

intangible property – money, investments, retirement, etc

You and your family will be better off

About Will contests – it’s important to consider what motivates the idea – and to check out the feasilbility of pursuing it. It’s expensive, and probate litigators are unlikely to work on anything but a cash-in-advance basis with no promise of success.

DIY’s are not advised, at least not by me. If a person wants one, be sure to get it reviewed by an attorney.

People don’t consider the impact of not having a designated person to help with finances if you’re not able to do it yourself – things as simple as paying bills – until you’re not able.

Leaving assets to minors because good counsel may not have been asked for an offered. Minors cannot directly inherit – it’s costly and emotional if proper planning isn’t done.

What about guardianship of minor children when there’s been a divorce – this can certainly be problematic.

Both of these programs are confusing. It’s important that people moving into their 60’s get educated so as to make informed decisions.

It’s not possible to communicate too often about the importance of planning.

Never is not the right time for estate planning. Whether it is a simple Will or a Power of Attorney, Healthcare Surrogate or Trust – now is the right time to plan.

We never know what the future holds. But one thing you can be sure of . . . you can have peace of mind knowing that your valuable assets and heirlooms will go to the people you love.