Aaron Charles Gregg

Top 10 Success Tips for Estate Planning

“Estate planning is one of the most important steps you can take for yourself and your loved ones.”

Unless you’ve done the planning, assets may not be distributed according to your wishes and loved ones may not be taken care of after your death. These are just two reasons to make sure you have an estate plan, according to the recent article titled “Estate Planning 101: 10 Tips for Success” from the Maryland Reporter.

Create a list of your assets. This should include all of your property, real estate, liquid assets, investments and personal possessions. With this list, consider what you would like to happen to each item after your death. If you have many assets, this process will take longer—consider this a good thing. Don’t neglect digital assets. The goal of a careful detailed list is to avoid any room for interpretation—or misinterpretation—by the courts or by heirs.

Meet with an estate planning attorney to create wills and trusts. These documents dictate how your assets are distributed after your death. Without them, the laws of your state may be used to distribute assets. You also need a will to name an executor, the person responsible for carrying out your instructions.

Your will is also used to name a guardian, the person who will raise your children if they are orphaned minors.

Who is the named beneficiary on your life insurance policy? This is the person who will receive the death benefit from your policy upon your death. Will this person be the guardian of your minor children? Do you prefer to have the proceeds from the policy used to fund a trust for the benefit of your children? These are important decisions to be made and memorialized in your estate plan.

Make your wishes crystal clear. Legal documents are often challenged if they are not prepared by an experienced estate planning attorney or if they are vaguely worded. You want to be sure there are no ambiguities in your will or trust documents. Consider the use of “if, then” statements. For example, “If my husband predeceases me, then I leave my house to my children.”

Consider creating a letter of intent or instruction to supplement your will and trusts. Use this document to give more detailed information about your wishes, from funeral arrangements to who you want to receive a specific item. Note this document is not legally binding, but it may avoid confusion and can be used to support the instructions in your will.

Trusts may be more important than you think in estate planning. Trusts allow you to take assets out of your probate estate and have these assets managed by a trustee of your choice, who distributes assets directly to beneficiaries. You don’t have to have millions to benefit from a trust.

List your debts. This is not as much fun as listing assets, but still important for your executor and heirs. Mortgage payments, car payments, credit cards and personal loans are to be paid first out of estate accounts before funds can be distributed to heirs. Having this information will make your executor’s tasks easier.

Plan for digital assets. If you want your social media accounts to be deleted or emails available to a designated person after you die, you’ll need to start with a list of the accounts, usernames, passwords, whether the platform allows you to designate another person to have access to your accounts and how you want your digital assets handled after death. This plan should be in place in case of incapacity as well.

How will estate taxes be paid? Without tax planning properly done, your legacy could shrink considerably. In addition to federal estate taxes, some states have state estate taxes and inheritance taxes. Talk with your estate planning attorney to find out what your estate tax obligations will be and how to plan strategically to pay the taxes.

Plan for Long Term Care. The Department of Health and Human Services estimates that about 70% of Americans will need some type of long-term care during their lifetimes. Some options are private LTC insurance, government programs and self-funding.

The more planning done in advance, the more likely your loved ones will know what to do if you become incapacitated and know what you wanted when you die.

Resource: Maryland Reporter (Sep. 27, 2022) “Estate Planning 101: 10 Tips for Success”

How Do You Get a Power of Attorney?

“To get power of attorney (POA), the person granting you that power must name you as the agent to have the powers specified in the POA document. It must be signed by the giver while s/he is sound of mind.”

If you are involved as a care provider for someone who is not able to manage their own affairs, you need to have the legal authority to act in the person’s best interest. To do that, you’ll need to have Power of Attorney (POA) for them, explains the article “How to get power of attorney for a loved one” from Tyron Daily Bulletin.

If the person you are trying to help suffers from dementia, a terminal illness or a condition which makes it difficult for them to communicate or make reasoned decisions, you may not be able to obtain a POA. As a result, may need to go to court for a guardianship or conservatorship instead.

POAs vary by state, so talk with an estate planning attorney to find out what your state allows. In most cases, the POA gives you the power to act on someone else’s behalf for a specific period of time regarding financial management. In most states, you will need a separate healthcare POA to make healthcare decisions or to speak with healthcare providers.

The agent (also known as an attorney in fact) under a POA is required to act in the best interest of the principal. Decisions regarding investments, property, bank accounts, debts and other financial matters must always place the principal first. It is crucial to maintain complete and accurate records of all transactions, and the agent’s finances and personal affairs must be kept separate from the principals.

If the principal is alive and of sound mind, they can overrule the agent’s decision, change or even terminate the POA agreement. They can also name someone else to serve as their agent with another POA. All POA powers terminate upon the death of the principal. Unless the same person has been named as agent under POA and as the executor of the estate or is appointed as executor (or administrator) by the court, that person’s responsibility ends upon the death of the principal.

There are a number of things that an agent under a POA cannot do:

• Be paid for personal services provided to the principal
• Vote in place of the principal
• Take over the principal’s guardianship of another person
• Change the principal’s will.

Even if you or the person who is naming you as the agent under their POA is in good health now, it is wise to plan for the future. We do not know when our capacity to manage finances or make healthcare decisions will be lost. Speak with an estate planning attorney about the POA to best serve your circumstances before it is needed.

Reference: Tyron Daily Bulletin (March 7, 2022) “How to get power of attorney for a loved one”

Do You Have to Go through Probate When Someone Dies?

“The law requires probate for a good reason. If a person dies, probate ensures that the property goes to the people who are supposed to inherit it.”

Probate is a required court proceeding under certain circumstances, although the rules surrounding probate are slightly different from state to state. In Hawaii, if a person dies owning real estate in their own name or if the total value of personal property is worth more than $100,000, their estate must be probated. In other states that threshold may be lower. Most states require probate regardless of the estate’s value, unless the estate assets are arranged to avoid probate.

This is explained in a recent article “Estate Planning Insights—Understanding Probate” from The Hawaii Herald.

Probate also requires written notice to be sent to the persons named in the will and to persons who would have inherited, if there had been no will. This is a big reason why many people use trusts and other alternative estate planning strategies. In addition, a will becomes part of the public record when it goes through probate, so creditors and others can see your will and learn all about your estate. So can estranged family members, ex-spouses, people looking for sales leads and thieves!

If there is no will, assets are distributed according to the state’s law of intestacy. These laws specify who receives inheritances, based on kinship. If a will is deemed invalid by the court, then the will is discarded, as are your wishes, and the laws of intestacy take over. This is another reason to work with an experienced estate planning attorney to create a properly prepared will and estate plan.

Probate can be a time-consuming process, delaying the distribution of assets. If the estate is complex, the process could take years.

Certain assets do not go through probate. These includes assets held by two or more people as “joint tenants” or “tenants by the entirety.” Real estate, checking accounts, saving accounts, and investment accounts can be owned this way. However, there can be pitfalls. If one person has debts, creditors may come after the assets, regardless of who the original owner may be.

Assets with a named beneficiary do not go through probate. This includes life insurance, IRAs, 401(k)s, annuities, savings bonds, “Transfer on Death (TOD accounts) and “Pay on Death” (POD accounts). It is very important to review all beneficiary designations every few years. Someone you may have named as a co-owner twenty years ago may no longer be in your life, or you may want to change the beneficiary. If you do not make any changes, whoever you originally named on the account will receive the assets.

Trusts are used to avoid probate, while directing what will happen to assets when you die. A Revocable Living Trust allows you to maintain control over the assets while living, but because you still have control over the assets in the trust, they are considered a countable asset by Medicaid.

To protect your assets from going through probate and to prepare for possible long-term care needs, an estate planning attorney can create a plan, possibly including a Medicaid Asset Protection Trust (MAPT).

Reference: The Hawaii Herald (Jan. 21, 2022) “Estate Planning Insights—Understanding Probate”

What’s the Difference between Probate Assets and Non-Probate Assets?

“Non-probate assets are those assets which do not go into an estate when the owner dies.”

Updating estate plans and reviewing beneficiary designations are both important estate planning tasks, more important than most people think. They’re easy to fix while you are alive, but the problems created by ignoring these tasks occur after you have passed, when they can’t be easily fixed or, can’t be fixed at all. The article “Who gets the brokerage account?” from Glen Rose Reporter shares one family’s story.

The father of three children had an estate plan done when the children were in their twenties. His Last Will and Testament directed all assets in a substantial brokerage account to be equally divided between the three children.

His Last Will was never updated.

Thirty years later, his two sons are successful, affluent physicians with high incomes. His daughter is a retired educator who had raised two children as a single mom and struggled financially for many years.

When her father met with his investment advisor, he signed a beneficiary designation leaving the substantial brokerage account, including the substantial growth occurring over the years, to his daughter.

When he dies, the two brothers claim his Last Will, dividing all assets equally, must be the final word. They insist the brokerage account is to be divided equally among the three children.

Any assets held in an account with a beneficiary designation are considered non-probate assets. They do not pass through the probate process. Their disposition is not controlled by the Last Will. The contract between the institution and the individual is paramount.

Insurance policies, retirement accounts, bank and brokerage accounts usually have these designations. They often include a pay-on-death provision, and the person who is to receive the assets upon death of the owner is clearly named.

If the owner of the account fails to sign a right of survivorship, pay-on-death or to name a beneficiary designation before they die, then the assets are paid by the financial institution to the probate estate. This is to be avoided, however, since it complicates what could be a simple transaction.

The two sons were correctly advised by an estate planning attorney of their sister’s full and protected right to receive the investment account, despite their wishes. When the provisions in the Last Will conflict with a contract made between an owner and a financial institution, the contract prevails.

In this case, a less financially secure daughter and her family benefited from the wishes and foresight of her father.

Last Wills and beneficiary designations need to be reviewed and revised to ensure that they reflect the wishes of the parent as time goes by.

Reference: Glen Rose Reporter (Jan. 13, 2022) “Who gets the brokerage account?”

Is It Better to Inherit Stock or Cash?

“If you’re planning to leave your heirs any sort of inheritance, you’re already giving them a valuable financial leg up.”

To make an inheritance even more advantageous for heirs, it’s a good idea to streamline accounts and simplify what you own before you die, eliminating some complications during a very emotional time. The next three decades will see a massive transfer of wealth from one generation to the next, says a recent article “6 of the Best Assets to Inherit” from Kiplinger. If you might be among those leaving inheritances to loved ones, there are steps you can take to prevent emotional and even family-destroying fights resulting from problematic assets.

Cash is king of inheritance assets. It’s simplest to deal with and the value is crystal clear. If you have accounts in multiple financial institutions, consolidate cash into one account. Each bank may have different rules for distributing assets, so reducing the number of banks involved will make it easier. Just remember to stay within FDIC limits, which insures only $250,000 per bank per ownership category. Tell your children if they are going to receive a significant cash inheritance and discuss what they may want to do with it.

Cash substitutes. Proceeds from a life insurance policy are usually very cut and dried. When you pass away, the life insurance company pays beneficiaries the death benefit in cash, according to the beneficiaries named on the policy. Be sure to tell your heirs where the original policy is located. They’ll need to provide the insurance company with a death certificate and there may be a form or two involved. The proceeds are income tax free, although the death benefit itself is added to the value of your estate and might be charged estate taxes.

Bank products, like CDs and Money Market Accounts. You can set up these accounts to be Payable on Death (POD), so the person named can access the assets quickly after your death. Don’t put one person’s name on the account and hope they share with their siblings. That’s a recipe for family disaster. If your will has one set of instructions and the bank product names another owner, the bank will pay according to the titling of the account. The same goes for life insurance proceeds—the beneficiary designation supersedes instructions in a will.

Brokerage Accounts. Stocks, bonds, mutual funds and other assets held in a taxable brokerage account are easy to divide and value. They are also easy to sell and convert to cash. What’s more, they could give heirs a significant tax benefit. If you bought shares of Apple or IBM years ago and sold the stocks while you were living, you’d owe capital gains taxes. However, if the investments are inherited, the heir receives a step-up-in-basis, which means the investment basis goes to the market value on the day you die. It’s entirely possible for heirs to sell appreciated assets with no or little taxes due.

Assets that decrease in value fast: this is not for everyone. Let’s say you know your heir is going to take their inheritance and buy an over-the-top luxury item, like a new sports car or a yacht. You know the asset will lose value the minute it’s driven out of the showroom or launched for the first time. Rather than leave them cash to make a purchase, buy the car or boat yourself and leave it to them as an inherited asset. They lose value immediately, while reducing your taxable estate. You’ve always wanted a Lamborghini anyway.

Roth IRA—Best of All IRA Worlds. The Roth IRA is funded with after-tax dollars, and in exchange, retirement withdrawals and investment gains are income tax-free. If you leave a 401(k) or traditional IRA, heirs will owe taxes on withdrawals and unless they meet certain requirements, they have to empty the account within ten years.

Trust Fund Assets. This may be the best way to protect an inheritance from heirs. If you leave property outright to heirs, it’s subject to creditors and predators. Funds in a trust are carefully protected, according to the terms of the trust, which you determine. Your estate planning attorney can create the trust to achieve whatever you want. Inheritances in trusts are less likely to evaporate quickly and you get the final say in how assets are distributed.

Reference: Kiplinger (Dec. 9, 2021) “6 of the Best Assets to Inherit”

How Important Is an Estate Plan?

“Every individual needs some form of an estate plan to protect their wishes and loved ones. Your estate consists of everything that you own (aka your assets), and although death may seem far away, it is never too soon to get your estate plan in order.”

Estate planning is preparing for two things: incapacity and death. It includes making sure you’ve conveyed your wishes about medical care in the case of a serious or terminal illness, who you want to receive your possessions when you pass and a series of documents to tell your loved ones your wishes. A recent article from The Street, “Everyone Needs an Estate Plan,” explains how to make this happen.

The foundation of the estate plan is your will, aka Last Will and Testament. It’s used to name several individuals for key roles. One is a guardian for minor children—if you don’t have a will or fail to name a guardian, a court will decide who should raise your children. Another is the executor, the person who will be in charge of overseeing your estate and your instructions. If you have animal companions, you may name a person to be their caretaker. However, you may want to go a step further and create a pet trust to provide funds for their maintenance.

You’ll also want a Living Will. This is a document conveying your wishes, if you are no longer able to make healthcare decisions for yourself. It focuses on end of life care. Do you want to be kept alive with artificial means, and if so, which ones are acceptable? How would you want pain management to be handled? Do you want to donate your organs? Yes, it’s a little scary, but imagine your loved ones in a highly emotional state having to guess what you would have wanted. It’s better for you and your family to know what you would want.

A personalized Power of Attorney. Naming a person as a Power of Attorney lets them handle your financial affairs and act as your agent or representative. However, here’s a pitfall: using a standardized form can lead to trouble. You may want your POA to be able to manage your day-to-day finances, but there may be some things you’d prefer them not to do. A customized POA can be as broad or as narrow as you wish.

Healthcare Power of Attorney and HIPAA Authorization. Information and decision making about healthcare today is complicated today. Your representatives will need to have these documents to speak with your medical care providers, to make decisions and to gain access to your medical records. Without a HIPAA form, you won’t be able to see their medical records, even if you are a sibling or spouse. It’s best to have these documents in place long before they are needed.

The laws about these and other estate planning documents vary from state to state. Therefore, you’ll need to work with an experienced estate planning attorney in your area to make sure that all of your documents are valid. If you own a business or have a complex financial situation, there are many legal methods to protect your assets and convey them to your heirs.

Reference: The Street (Nov. 22, 2021) “Everyone Needs an Estate Plan”

When Should a Trust Be Reviewed?

“Many people are under the impression that since they have a trust, they don’t need to do anything else. That’s not true. The trust you created years ago may not be appropriate for you now.”

Life changes, and laws change too. The great trust created two decades ago may not be a good idea today and may no longer be suitable for you or your beneficiaries. As a general rule, you should review your estate plan and trust every other year, according to the article “Revisit trust on a regular basis” from the Santa Cruz Sentinel.

Start with the Table of Contents, if there is one. There should be language concerning “Successor Trustees.” Are the trustees you named still alive? Are they still part of your life, and do you still trust them? How are their money skills? If they don’t get along with the rest of the family, or if they have been embroiled in a series of petty disputes, they may not be appropriate to manage your trust. Don’t be afraid to make changes. Your estate planning attorney will know how to do this smoothly and properly.

Next, find the paragraph that discusses “Disposition on Death” or “Disposition on Death of Surviving Spouse.” Does it still make sense for your loved ones? Have any children or family members who are listed as receiving benefits died? Are any heirs disabled and receiving government benefits? Have any of your children developed addictions, problems handling money, married people you don’t trust, or are preparing to divorce their spouses? Changes can be made to protect your children from themselves and from others in their lives.

Look for a “Schedule of Trust Assets.” When was the last time this was updated? If you’ve moved and the trust still lists your last residence, you need to change it. Is your new home in the trust? Are retirement accounts correctly listed? Do you have new assets you’ve never placed in the trust? This is a common, and costly, oversight.

If married, how does the trust address what occurs between the death of the first spouse and the surviving spouse? Do you have an A/B trust to divide everything between a Survivor’s Trust and a Bypass Trust or Exemption Trust? Maybe you don’t need or want an A/B trust anymore. Talk with your estate planning attorney to be sure this is structured properly for your life right now.

How is your health? If you or a spouse are in a nursing home or if one of you is ill and likely to needs nursing home care, it may be time to start planning for a Medicaid Asset Protection Trust.

While you’re reviewing your trusts, trustees and beneficiaries, don’t forget to review the people named as beneficiaries for your retirement accounts and life insurance policies. These should be reviewed regularly as well.

Reviewing your trust and estate plan on a regular basis is just as necessary as an annual physical. Leaving your accumulated assets unprotected is easily fixed, while you are alive and well.

Reference: Santa Cruz Sentinel (Nov. 20, 2021) “Revisit trust on a regular basis”

Estate Planning when So Much Is Uncertain

“Taxpayers should, of course, carefully consider whether to engage in a lifetime gifting strategy, which has other considerations beyond just estate taxes (such as the tradeoff with the ‘step‑up’ in basis, and non-tax family related considerations).”

Negotiations in Washington continue to present a series of changing scenarios for estate planning. Until the ink is dry in the Oval Office, taxpayers face an uncertain legislative environment, says a recent article titled “Estate Planning in an Uncertain Time” from CPA Practice Advisor. Many people hurried to use lifetime gifting strategies because of estate tax provisions contained in earlier versions of the infrastructure bill, but even with these provisions dropped (for now), there are still good reasons to use lifetime gifting strategies.

The current $11.7 million estate/gift tax exemption will still be reduced on January 1, 2026, even if Congress takes no other action. Taxpayers who have not taken advantage of this “extra” exemption before then will lose the opportunity forever.

Any post-appreciation transfer on gifted assets accrues outside of the taxpayer’s estate. For younger individuals and for transferred assets with high potential for appreciation, this could have a major impact. Taxpayers who reside in states with a state estate tax, but no state gift tax, may find that lifetime gifting could reduce state estate tax liability.

For those who have already used all of their estate/gift tax exemption, the current low interest rate environment makes certain advanced estate planning techniques more appealing. Sales to IDGTS (Intentionally Defective Grantor Trusts, a type of irrevocable trust), intra-family loans and GRATS (Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts) are more effective when interest rates are low.

The two interest rates to watch for these strategies are the federal Section 7520 rate and the short-term, mid-term and long-term applicable federal rate (AFR). If transferred assets appreciate faster than the benchmark interest rate, any excess appreciation passes without any estate/gift tax exemption being used.

Interest rates have increased in recent months. However, by historical standards, they remain low.

IDGTs are expected to remain popular for making lifetime transfers. They are a type of trust outside the taxpayer’s estate for estate tax purposes and are considered to belong to the grantor for income tax purposes. The grantor is responsible for paying the income tax of the trust, which permits the grantor to make a tax-free gift, while the assets of the IDGT may grow without income taxes.

The grantor may also sell assets to an IDGT without creating a realization event for income tax purposes. Congress may consider this a little too effective for estate taxes, but for now, this strategy is still available.

Speak with an experienced estate planning attorney to review your current lifetime gifting plan and see if it needs to be revised. Of course, if you don’t have an estate plan, now is the time to get that underway.

Reference: CPA Practice Advisor (Nov. 17, 2021) “Estate Planning in an Uncertain Time”

Talk to Parents about Estate Planning without Making It Awkward

“Discussing estate planning with your parents is a conversation that can be difficult to have. You might not want to think about the day they are no longer here, or even consider that they might experience a decline in health that severely limits their ability to think clearly or communicate with you.”

If you don’t have this conversation with parents when they are able to share information and provide you with instructions, helping with their care if they become incapacitated or dealing with their estate after they pass will be far more difficult. None of this is easy, but there are some practical strategies shared in the article “How to Talk to Your Parents About Estate Planning” from The Balance.

Parents worry about children fighting over estates after they pass, but not having a “family meeting” to speak about estate planning increases the chance of this happening. In many cases, family conflicts lead to litigation, and everyone loses.

Start by including siblings. Including everyone creates an awareness of fairness because no one is being left out. A frank, open conversation including all of the heirs with parents can prevent or at least lessen the chances for arguments over what parents would have wanted. Distrust grows with secrets, so get everything out in the open.

When is the right time to have the conversation? There is no time like the present. Don’t wait for an emergency to occur—what most people do—but by then, it’s too late.

Estate planning includes preparing for issues of aging as well as property distribution after death. Health care power of attorney and financial power of attorney need to be prepared, so family members can be involved when a parent is incapacitated. An estate planning attorney will draft these documents as part of creating an estate plan.

The unpredictable events of 2020 and 2021 have made life’s fragile nature clear. Now is the time to sit down with family members and talk about the plans for the future. Do your parents have an estate plan? Are there plans for incapacity, including Long-Term Care insurance? If they needed to be moved to a long-term facility, how would the cost be covered?

Another reason to have this conversation with family now is your own retirement planning. The cost of caring for an ailing parent can derail even the best retirement plan in a matter of months.

Define roles among siblings. Who will serve as power of attorney and manage mom’s finances? Who will be the executor after death? Where are all of the necessary documents? If the last will and testament is locked in a safe deposit box and no one can gain access to it, how will the family manage to follow their parent’s wishes?

Find any old wills and see If trusts were established when children were young. If an estate plan was created years ago and the children are now adults, it’s likely all of the documents need to be revised. Review any trusts with an estate planning attorney. Those children who were protected by trusts so many years ago may now be ready to serve as executor, trustees, power of attorney or health care surrogate.

Usually, a complete understanding of the parent’s wishes and reasons behind their estate plan takes more than a single conversation. Some of the issues may require detailed discussion, or family members may need time to process the information. However, as long as the parents are living, the conversation should continue. Scheduling an annual family meeting, often with the family’s estate planning attorney present, can help everyone set long-term goals and foster healthy family relationships for multiple generations.

Reference: The Balance (Oct. 15, 2021) “How to Talk to Your Parents About Estate Planning”

Estate Planning Mistakes to Avoid

“According to a Caring.com survey, only 4 in 10 American adults have a will or a living trust. And what may be even more surprising is that younger adults are outpacing their middle-aged and older counterparts when it comes to estate planning.”

Estate planning is crucial to ensure that wealth accumulated over a lifetime is distributed according to your wishes and will take care of your family when you are no longer able to do so. Many well-intentioned people make common mistakes, which could be avoided with the guidance of an estate planning attorney, says the article “Avoiding Big Estate Planning Mistakes” from Physician’s Weekly.

Do you have a will? Many families must endure the red tape and expenses of “intestate” probate because a parent never got around to having a will prepared. The process is relatively straightforward: identify an estate planning attorney and make an appointment. Once the will is completed, make sure several trusted people, likely family members, know where it is and can access it.

Are you properly insured? If the last time you looked at your life insurance coverage was more than ten years ago, it’s probably not kept pace with your life. Although every person’s situation is different, high- income earners, like physicians or other professionals, need to understand that life insurance “replaces” income. This means enough to pay for college, pay off a mortgage and provide for your surviving spouse and children’s lifestyles.

When was the last time you spoke with your estate planning attorney, CPA, or financial advisor? Tax laws are constantly changing, and if your estate plan is not keeping up with those changes, you may be missing out on planning opportunities. Your family also may end up with a big tax bill, if your estate plan hasn’t been revised in the last three or four years. Your team of professionals is only as good as you let them be, so stay in touch with them.

When was the last time you reviewed your estate plan with your attorney? If you thought an estate plan was a set-it-and-forget-it plan, think again. Tax laws aren’t the only thing that changes. If you’ve divorced and remarried, you definitely need a new estate plan—and possibly a post-nuptial agreement. Have your children grown up, married and perhaps had children of their own? Do you have a new and troublesome son-in-law and want to protect your daughter’s inheritance? All of the changes in your life need to be reflected in your estate plan.

Having “the talk” with your family. No one wants to think about their own mortality or their parent’s mortality. However, if you don’t discuss your estate plan and your wishes with your family, they will not know what you want to happen. It doesn’t need to be a summit meeting, but a series of conversations to allow your loved ones to become comfortable with the discussion and make it more likely your wishes will be fulfilled. This includes your estate plan and your wishes for burial or cremation and what kind of memorial service you want.

Reference: Physician’s Weekly (Oct. 8, 2021) “Avoiding Big Estate Planning Mistakes”