Estate Planning Blog

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Several of my younger friends have asked me whether they need a will or not. And I often give them the two words that all lawyers love saying: “it depends.” And it really does depend on a lot of things; so in answering a friend’s question, I consider:

• Are they married?
• Are they planning on getting married soon?
• Do they own property?
• Will they possibly inherit property soon?
• Do they have kids?
• Will they soon have kids?
• Do they have life insurance or a retirement plan?
• Do they have someone that they would like or would NOT like to make medical decisions for them?

If the answer is yes to any of these questions, then I tell them that they absolutely should have a will in place. To which they invariably respond: “yeah, I’ll get around to it.”

A will and an estate plan can do a lot of things for you; but mostly it can save you and your family mountains of time and expenses in the event that something happens to you. We estate planners understand that there are a lot of other things that you would rather spend your money on. New kitchen appliances, for instance, would be much more exciting, and hey, you can show off your new gas stove to friends! However, showing off your Will and Health Care Directive to friends would be lame, and it would be a conversation-killer.

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But kitchen appliances, while they are shiny, and can make delicious grilled bacon jalapeno wraps, don’t do the following things that a will and an estate plan can do:

• Establish who will be your children’s guardians;
• Lay out your medical decisions and name someone to speak for you in case you can’t;
• Distribute property that you own;
• Arrange for the care of your pets;
• make delicious grilled bacon jalapeno wraps
• Establish a trust fund for your children’s education and support;
• Save you potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in estate taxes.

So yes, it is often a chore trying to convince younger people why they need to arrange a will. But when I explain to them that it could save their family months of delay and potential court conflicts, not to mention help their estate avoid vast expenses, drafting a will seems worth it. Now if I could just find a way to make the documents look good in stainless steel…