For Your New Year's Resolutions

Even amid the good news of the rollout of not one but two vaccines, with more likely on the way, we know that we will be living with the uncertainties and fall-out from the COVID-19 pandemic for a while to come.

As we start the pivot to what our new normal will look like, one of the most "normal' things we should do is to take care of our estate planning. Many Americans remain anxious about what would happen should they get sick and be unable to make informed decisions or manage their financial and legal affairs. Some may have no documents in place, or have outdated ones with incorrect beneficiary/guardian/power of attorney designations. Others may never have completed their planning due to indecisiveness around certain difficult decisions. 

We recommend that completing your estate planning be moved to the top of that annoying, back-of-your-mind to-do list. Our current situation highlights the importance of having revocable trusts or wills, powers of attorney, health care surrogates, and living wills in place and up to date. For those who have been stymied by difficult decisions such as selecting guardians, powers of attorney, and/or how to treat heirs/beneficiaries, we encourage you to seek guidance. For those hesitant to leave their homes, all aspects of a comprehensive estate plan can be completed remotely. In our own office we offer guidance remotely or in a socially distanced, masked environment.

Now is the time to wrap up this planning, giving you one less (huge) thing to fret about and allowing you to move on to the next to-do item about which you have been procrastinating.