Do's and Don'ts of Estate Planning
For the sake of clarity, the term "Estate Planning" applies everything from Wills and Powers of Attorney to elaborate Trusts. "Do's": Update your documents more than once a decade. That's right. I recently saw a Will that was fifty (50) years old! Fortunately, some of the folks listed in it were still alive. If your documents pre-date cell phones, update them! Read your documents. Even if an attorney drafted the documents, read them. Make sure you understand the documents. Recently I saw a document where the attorney did not change the name on the document from one (1) of his/her previous clients. That document was invalid. You need to make sure the words on the page are what they need to be. Love yourself and your family enough to have the documents. Those who love their families make difficult times easier with documents that prevent the family from having to get court orders to do things that a simple Power of Attorney or Advanced