Tustin Estate Planning Law Blog

Another year is coming ever closer to its end. As people review the past and anticipate the future, resolutions and plans for the New Year are made. Among those plans may be a plan to protect one's estate assets. A comprehensive estate plan can go a long way towards achieving that goal, but how does one begin in California?

Every adult can benefit from having an estate plan. Even if one believes that his or her net worth is not sufficient to merit a will, most everyone has possessions that are dear to them. In addition, a trust or living will can provide for medical decisions that may need to be made in the event of one's incapacitation and inability to make those decisions.

Mortality is a fact of life, and no one in California will live forever. While this is an accepted fact, younger people tend to focus less on their mortality than those who may be middle aged or older. There is a certain feeling of perpetual immortality among the young. Sadly, this feeling has been dealt a mortal blow in the recent shootings at a concert in Las Vegas and a night club and high school in Florida, to name just a few of the mass shootings that have taken too many young lives. Many of those who lost their lives likely had no wills or other estate documents in place.

It is a sad fact that today's young people, also known as millennials, may benefit from having a will, health care directive or other estate planning documents in place. Families who face the ultimate tragedy, having to bury a child, may have had to do so without knowing their young adult children's wishes regarding end of life care, organ donation and other final wishes. In addition, most may not have access to bank accounts, social media passwords and other important pieces of information regarding their loved one's everyday life.

People in California are becoming aware of the importance of estate planning due in part to the number of prominent people who have recently passed away without having one. The lack of a plan can cause chaos and tie up an estate in probate for years. Simply having an estate plan may not resolve all of the possible issues that could arise, regarding distribution of estate assets.

One area that is sometimes overlooked is the bequeathing of individual items. A will or a trust designates the beneficiaries for one's belongings, especially large ones. For items such as real estate and financial assets, the beneficiaries will likely be clearly identified. However, the document will most likely not contain a complete inventory of all of one's belongings.

People are living longer in California and in many cases they are remaining healthy well into their later years. Eventually, age will catch up with a person and one's health can begin to fail. Health care directives can specify to one's family exactly what one's desires and directives are regarding end-of-life care or care if one becomes incapacitated.

While no one wants to dwell on the subject of aging and dying, making plans to deal with the eventuality can make the hard decisions easier for loved ones to bear. Rather than having to make the decisions in a hospital room after a sudden accident or ailment, a health care directive informs all concerned of the patient's wishes. Having a document that stipulates a person's wishes regarding feeding tubes, life support and other life saving measures allows a family to focus on the well-being of the patient without the stress of how to proceed with the patient's care.