This series will cover many different topics and issues that can arise for Oklahoma families wanting to plan for future death or incapacity. This is a very broad issue, because every family is different.
Every family has different estate planning needs, because every family is unique. Some are more traditional. Others are blended families of children, stepchildren, adopted children, previous spouses, or unmarried domestic partners. There are even grandparents raising grandchildren who still have living parents. Every family is different. Every family has different needs. For these reasons, there are many different types of estate plans.
Regardless of what type of family you have, you need an estate plan to keep your family out of court and out of conflict. In addition, you need to plan for how you want to be treated during incapacity, and how you want your family treated after you die.
Above all, you must understand that if you do not have a plan, you are leaving it up to the government to make decisions for you after you die or become incapacitated. With a proper estate plan, you take those decisions into your own hands, and further, ensure your family never has to go to court.
What is estate planning?
It’s easy to get caught up in the legal language: wills, trusts, estates. You may even have questions about executors, trustees, and beneficiaries.
I would like you to forget about all of this language for the moment. Instead, I want to simplify things and get you focused on the more important aspects of future planning.
Two things could happen: you could become incapacitated, and you could die. The latter is certain to happen, we just don’t know when.
If you were to become incapacitated, or if you were to die, what does that look like for the people you love? Here are some questions to ask:
- Would your spouse be able to pay the bills?
- Would your spouse or children be left with debts or taxes to pay?
- Would your children be left with problems to solve?
- Would your death or incapacity leave your family with conflict?
- Would hidden conflicts surface?
- Would old wounds re-open?
Proper estate planning begins with confronting these realities, and then, with the help of your attorney and advisors, putting together solutions to solve these problems.
How we approach estate planning for our clients
We provide more than just documents. Yes, we have all of the forms. Yes, we can draft wills, trusts, power of attorney forms and medical directives. But forms do not separate good lawyers from bad.
With technology today, most attorneys have access to many varieties of forms through software, professional member organizations, and simply through the internet.
Regular people have access to legal forms through the internet, and through various software and document websites, as well as through things like pre-paid legal services and even insurance plans. If you want sample templates for wills, trusts, power of attorney forms or healthcare directives, you can simply buy these forms online.
But documents and forms are not estate planning. Documents and forms are just one component of estate planning.
Instead, estate planning is all about having a plan that works and doesn’t fail your family when they need it. This involves regularly updating your plan, and having an attorney that will regularly check in and ensure that your plan complies with any life changes as well as legal changes.
Most traditional estate plans actually cause conflict and problems for the family, instead of preventing them.
Our approach to estate planning focuses on getting a clear vision of what the future looks like, preventing unnecessary conflict between family members, and ensuring that your family never has to go to court. Unfortunately, the traditional approach to estate planning is so centered on document production that it doesn’t always achieve the client’s true goals.
Wills and testamentary trusts do not keep your family out of court. Even properly designed trusts will not keep your family out of court if they are not properly funded and updated.
Perhaps the greatest failure of most estate plans is the failure of the attorney to obtain a list of assets to be transferred by the documents. Does your family even know where your assets are? Think about all of the Bank accounts, real estate, stock investments or partnerships you may be involved in.
Just nominating a family member to be the executor of your estate or trustee of your trust does no good if they are not constantly informed of the whereabouts of the assets themselves. Otherwise, your family will have to become detectives and investigators once they become executor or trustee of your estate.
Same goes for passwords and credentials for electronic access to your many digital accounts. Simply creating a trust will not keep your family out of court if the other aspects of estate planning are not put in place. A trust that was meant to keep your family out of court may do the opposite. It may actually require your family to go to court if certain aspects of proper planning were never put into place.
Estate Planning that only focuses on documents is not good estate planning
Proper estate planning is not just about the documents that can be obtained for a small fee online. Proper estate planning is about creating a comprehensive plan, that properly notifies those family members that will be involved, that properly prepares and educates everyone about the decisions made and the reasons behind them; that uses the proper documents in the right way to achieve the client’s goals.
Most importantly, proper estate planning prevents family conflict. Further, it should prevent strangers, such as judges, from ever being involved deciding any aspect of your family’s future. It prevents the court system from being involved in deciding where minor children are placed if their parents die. Proper estate planning also protects your children’s inheritance from their own creditors, lawsuits, and even subsequent divorce.
Imagine leaving this world with a set of instructions to your family on how they can enjoy what you have left behind. And more than just the tangible, you have the ability to pass on your values and your beliefs to your family in the estate plans we create.
Peace of mind is knowing that you are leaving assets to those you love, and knowing that those assets are protected from creditors, ex-wives or ex-husbands, and the government.
Your family’s personal lawyer: Travis Charles Smith
To learn more about preserving your legacy and our approach to estate planning, call our office to schedule a 15-minute call with Travis Charles Smith. On this call, he will ask some questions and give a brief overview of our system.
After your 15-minute introductory call, you can decide if you want to move forward with a full consultation. Our consultation will be a 2-hour Life & Legacy Planning Session. You will have homework to complete prior to this session. During this session, you will become extremely educated on the consequences of bad estate planning, as well as how to achieve all of your goals, even the ones you haven’t conceived yet.
During this session, Travis will be able to present multiple options and packages for you, based on your goals, your assets, your family structure, and other information you have provided. Whether you choose to hire us now, later, or never, you will know more than you ever did about estate planning after leaving this session.
Continue reading our next article to learn why traditional estate plans fail many families and how that can be avoided.