When it comes to estate planning, there’s no shortage of information online. While it’s nice that so much information is at your disposal, it can also lead to misconceptions that cost you and your family time and money.
Estate planning will affect you and your loved ones in many ways, so every decision you make should be rooted in reality and fact. Here are some misconceptions that could hold you back from making informed decisions:
- You don’t need an estate plan: This is a particularly big misconception among younger people, such as those who have yet to start a family. They’re young and healthy, so they assume they have plenty of time for estate planning in the future. It may be true, but it’s not a risk you want to take.
- A will is more than enough: A will is one of the best and most common estate planning tools, but it’s not the only point of consideration. For example, you also need to create an incapacity plan, as it will help guide your loved ones in the event that you’re unable to make your own decisions as a result of illness or injury.
- Your family will handle everything upon your death: Even if they’re willing to step in and sift through everything you’ve left behind, the court system has a big say in what happens next. Without an estate plan, it’s not up to your family to decide who gets what and who’s in charge of making key decisions.
- It’s too expensive: It’s common for people to shy away from estate planning because they don’t want to spend any money completing the process. Even though you’ll spend money up front, it will save you and your family much more in the future.
Creating an estate plan is a challenge on many fronts. Not only do you have key decisions to make that will affect you and the people you care about, but you’ll also come face-to-face with your own mortality. That alone is enough for you to continually put it off.
As long as you understand what a comprehensive estate plan looks like, you can combine this knowledge with your legal rights to make informed decisions that will benefit you and your family.
