You might have heard about the term estate planning, and you might have thought that this is something that only super-wealthy people need. However, the truth of the matter is that estate planning involves a series of decisions and documents that allow you to plan for your future and medical care.
Estate planning is essentially the process of how you want your assets allocated when you pass on. In this sense, estate planning is for everyone, and if you want to be strategic about it, you can use estate planning as a way to protect your loved ones from your liabilities that they potentially could become responsible for after you die.
The best way to go on with estate planning is to get an attorney onboard, such as the asset protection attorney las vegas nv, where the attorney will help you with the essential documentation and other areas that are part of estate planning.
Here are some of the essential areas that you should cover in your estate planning process.
Insurance
You will want to focus on life, home, and auto insurance to help protect your loved ones from your potential liabilities and financial burdens. You will also use insurance to protect the future of your loved ones after you pass away.
For instance, let us talk about auto insurance that is beneficial in accidental deaths, where the auto insurance benefits pay for death expenses in covered accidents. The same stands for life insurance plans.
In the absence of specific types of insurance or coverage, your family has to pay out of their pockets for death expenses. More importantly, if you have loads of debt or important taxes, it is certainly advisable to get life insurance and protect your loved ones from your financial obligations.
Assign Beneficiaries
Another aspect that you want to include in estate planning with the help of an attorney, such as the estate planning attorney tampa fl, is to plan for beneficiary designations. The thing about assets is that some of them can be transferred upon death without the need to designate them to someone in a formal will.
So, depending on your state, this may include the following:
- Bank accounts
- Retirement accounts
- Other financial accounts
- Real estate
- Vehicles
- Other assets or accounts
With estate planning, you will want to ensure to update your beneficiaries on your accounts regularly. Imagine forgetting to remove an ex-partner before passing away. In this scenario, it would be difficult for your intended beneficiary to collect.
Plan Your Living Will
You will want to write out a living will as part of your estate planning. The living will includes your medical wishes in case you face an incapacitating event. The living will is only used once, which means that you can no longer use it if you cannot make your own medical decisions.
The living will is essentially used to guide medical staff, and it can actually be scanned in your local hospital database.
Speaking of the living will, you will also want to include a last will and testament.
